Make You Love Me
by DermatologistTested
Summary: Ten lien to get a glimpse of the person you would spend the rest of your life with? 16-year-old Blake thought it was stupid and didn't think much of it. Four years later, she sees the woman in her vision and starts to wonder if her future had already been laid out for her. True in every sense, the course of true love never did run smooth.
1. Flash Forward

"Come on, Blake!" Sun Wukong called after her, his white shirt open and his faded blue jeans folded to just inches below his knees. Who could blame him? It was the middle of summer and Menagerie was known for its sweltering heat and for housing 76% of the Faunus population all throughout Remnant.

"The fair's only here every five years. You promised you'd come with me yesterday." he said, jumping up and down and taking in the flashing lights and the variety of stenches wafting through the air.

Blake felt like puking.

"Calm down." she said dryly, her arms folded over her white tank top. Her black shorts and sandals did nothing to cool her, "We can always come back in five years."

"Fat chance, grumpy kitty." Sun jibed, turning to her with his million-lien smile.

Blake Belladonna never liked being teased for her Faunus trait, not by any human nor Faunus and most especially not by the monkey Faunus, Sun Wukong. That never stopped him though. Even when they were younger, he'd always find a way to remind her of the second pair of ears on her head.

"Go eat a banana." She scoffed, flipping her short black hair behind her sweaty neck. She hoped Sun would get the double entendre there, but judging by the toothy grin on his face and how his monkey tail swung freely behind him, he missed the entire point.

"Lighten up." His monkey tail coiled around her wrist, "You and me are gonna have a ball tonight!"

It never took much to make Sun happy. He had bought several fried hotdogs, sweet bananas on a stick, corndogs, more hotdogs, and practically anything that was deep fried and ultimately unhealthy. Surprisingly, he never gained any weight. "I'm a growing boy" he would say in between bites. He was just an all-around good guy since day one.

Well, not since the very first day they met though.

They were both fourteen years old when Sun had just moved to Menagerie from Vacuo. He would never tell anyone that his family had been forced out of their home from the constant threats against their kind. He had been problematic and angry at the world upon arrival. That's why when he first saw Blake, he started picking on her. After giving him a black eye though, he finally told her that he only picked on her because he liked her.

Unfortunately, Blake did not like him.

Astonishingly, they became the best of friends after that. Blake forgave him for his ill-conceived notion that girls respond better if a guy mistreats the girl he likes. She made sure he never did that again to anyone.

Two years later, they were inseparable and Blake thought of him as the brother she never had. Her parents loved him as if he were their own son and would not stop doting on him. Sometimes, Blake thought that they loved him more than they loved her. Sometimes. Most days, she would laugh at how they would kick him out of the house after he would rummage through their fridge and eat all of their food.

A couple of pretzels and sodas later, Blake and Sun were off trying their luck at the games around the fair. The balloon dart board was a fiasco after Sun almost hit the carnie with a pair of darts he threw simultaneously. The ring toss wasn't any different. Sun's aim was just not very good.

Empty-handed and with only twenty lien left in both their pockets, they began their hunt for the last attraction before turning in for the night.

"Please don't spend our money on a snow cone." Blake protested dragging Sun away from the stand the minute they passed by it. The shredded ice would be a welcome treat in this damnable heat, but sweets never really were her thing and she didn't want to spend the last of her lien feeding the ever-hungry Sun.

"Fine!" he sighed, his shoulders drooping forward as he trudged behind his friend, kicking a discarded soda can on the ground.

They circled the fairgrounds, noting how they had already tried every bit of games and food being offered to them. Sun thought it would be fun to try the dunk tank, but Blake knew better than to trust a baseball with his lousy aim. Besides, it didn't seem like a good idea to spend five lien just to dump a poor squirrel Faunus into a tank of murky water.

"Oooh a psychic tent!" Sun bounced, his tail grabbing Blake's wrist.

Blake turned to where he was looking at and saw a wooden wagon nestled just a few paces outside of the fairgrounds. They've circled the grounds at least three times and this is the first time she had seen it there. Right on cue, a head of wild brown hair poked out of the dark tent beside the wagon, ushering two giddy young women out.

"... He was handsoooome!" called out the girl with chestnut hair, her lamb ears flicking in excitement, "Madame Leona said I'd meet him in a year."

"Oh yeah?" the blonde girl said, her little goat tail swished back and forth as they walked past Blake and Sun, "I'm going to meet my true love in five years. We're going to get married and have three beautiful kids."

Blake turned back to the dark tent and looking at the brunette woman who was now staring intently at her and Sun, her steely brown eyes matched the color of her hair. She was draped in a bright purple shawl over a black dress that pooled at her feet. In any other day, Blake would have panicked as she saw the fangs at the corner of the older woman's lips, but her smile was inviting which made Blake all the more curious.

"Let's go there!" That was the final invitation Blake needed as she jogged after Sun who had bounded for the dark tent, standing just in front of the lion Faunus.

"Hello, children." her voice was silky, "I am Madame Leona. I have travelled to the far corners of Remnant, dined with the richest and the most powerful, sharing my visions of the future. Want your fortune told?"

Blake didn't think twice about her well-practiced statement of travelling all over Remnant, but having dined with the richest and most powerful? That seemed absurd. She lived in a beat up wagon and was now peddling stories and false hope to a bunch of teenagers in the ass end of Remnant.

"YES!" Sun shouted before Blake could protest. His fist curled up in front of his chest as he bounced in excitement in front of Madame Leona. If she was surprised by his sudden outburst, it didn't show in her expression. Blake would rather have paid to learn how to do that.

"Twenty-five lien." her lips curled, placing one hand on her left hip as the other one produced a long pipe, "I'm saving for my retirement, so no less."

That should have been the end of it. They only had twenty lien between the two of them and she did not want to spend it on some vague fortune of who her true love would be and how many children she was going to have. Besides, she had already drawn up her own future.

She was going to marry the most popular boy in school, Adam Taurus, and they were going to have a whirlwind romance, travelling all throughout Atlas in trains, ferry rides in the rivers of Vacuo and holding hands in the sprawling streets of Vale. Together, they would prove to the entire world that Faunus are people just like everyone else with their love and they were going to have two beautiful children that were as good-looking as their father and as brilliant as their mother.

That is if he only noticed her.

A girl can dream.

"Oh," Sun rubbed at the back of his neck, his other hand already fishing for the seven lien in his pocket, "We only have twenty lien."

"No," Blake announced, placing a hand on his shoulder, "you only have five lien. We should go, Sun."

"Come on, Blake!" Sun pulled her aside, leaving Madame Leona to puff at her pipe in peace, "Maybe we can cut a deal with her. I got **seven** here and if you spot me the three, we could probably get something for ten lien each. What do you say?"

"I suppose," Madame Leona puffed on her pipe and blew out smoke, "I could cut you both a deal. Ten lien each. Lover's discount."

Blake suddenly turned to Madame Leona, her face flushing, "We're just friends!"

"Best friends!" Sun piped up, pulling Blake back towards the tent, "Ten lien each, you've got a deal."

Madame Leona held out her hand, palm up and waited until Blake and Sun deposited their twenty lien before motioning for them to step inside. She directed them to the stiff wooden seats on the other side of her round table. As expected, the table was small and covered by a maroon fancy table cloth with intricate designs of golden vines and grapes. Right in the middle of it was a plain-looking crystal ball held in place by a white marble perch with more vines and different fruits carved onto its surface. Madame Leona must love her produce.

Blake expected the lion Faunus to conjure a deck of tarot cards and start shuffling them in front of them. She could almost hear her telling them to pick a card or do magic tricks. But no, Madame Leona only held her shawl in place as she gracefully seated herself on the only remaining chair.

"Well, at least I wouldn't have to break up a couple," Madame Leona announced, her eyes darting between the two before settling on Blake's amber eyes, her lips curling into a devious smile, "I can see that you prefer the... fairer... things in life."

What was that supposed to mean?

"So, do we hold hands, close our eyes, chant magic words, flip cards or what?" Sun was buzzing in his seat, either from excitement or from how uncomfortable the chair really was.

"For the full price," Madame Leona scoffed, placing both her hands on the table, the crystal ball in between them. She was still upset about only getting twenty lien from them, "I usually show you how you will meet your true love, when that will be and what your future would be like together."

Sun held his breath and Blake could only roll her eyes. Absolutely ridiculous. The future is not set in stone and can be gleaned into like it was some sort of episode in a television series or a page in a book. It's all a network of choices and circumstances and it's ever-changing, never the same.

"But for ten lien, I can only show you what they look like. I won't show you how you'll meet and when that will happen. That's all you'll get. Got it?"

Blake folded her arms over her chest, leaning back into the chair as far as she comfortably could and Sun enthusiastically nodded in agreement.

"You first, monkey. Put your hand on the crystal ball and close your eyes."

"Uhh..." Sun raised both his hands and looked at them in confusion, "Which one?"

Madame Leona sighed in annoyance, "Whichever one. I don't care. Just do it."

Sun finally chose to use his left hand and gingerly placed it on the crystal ball, probably trying not to knock it off the table and pay for it. Madame Leona placed both her hands over his and closed her eyes, muttering the strangest thing Blake had ever heard.

"... chordata, synapsida, mammalia, carnivora, felidae..."

And then there was silence.

Both Madame Leona and Sun were motionless. Blake felt the temperature in the room getting more awkward by the second. What was she supposed to do while they were both in their trance? Were they even in a trance? What did she mean by showing them what their true love looked like?

Blake decided to investigate as best as she could if Madame Leona wasn't a fraud who cheated dumb teenagers out of their money. She carefully lifted the table cloth a little bit to check if there were any sticks or wires under the table, but she could only see Sun's sneakers, Madame Leona's dress and a safety pin that one of her victims might have dropped earlier.

After about five minutes, she heard Sun gasp. She quickly threw the table cloth back in place and straightened herself before the two of them caught on to what she was doing. Sun snapped his eyes open while Madame Leona slowly did the same, the same devious smile spread across face.

"Blake, Blake, Blake!" Sun exclaimed, his arms flailing over his head, "She was beautiful. She had this cute red hair and the sexiest pair of doe ears. Ah! Her eyes were sooooo beautiful."

"A doe?" Blake laughed.

"Your turn." Madame Leona held out her hand to Blake, waiting for her to place her hand on the crystal ball.

Might as well, Blake thought. They did pay ten lien for this and even if what they saw would never come true, at least they would both have fun exchanging stories of what their true love would look like. If she ever saw Adam in Madame Leona's visions, then she could only hope that it would come true, but whatever. She was in control of her future and if she didn't like what she saw, she would do well to just avoid it entirely.

She placed her right hand over the crystal ball, surprised by its coolness. Madame Leona instructed her to close her eyes and after a quick second of hesitation, she closed them. Blake was in complete darkness, her ears picking up the soft muttering of the same strange words from earlier.

"... chordata, synapsida, mammalia, carnivora, felidae..."

And after they were spoken, nothing happened. The sounds of the fair and Sun faded, but she could still feel that she was seated in the tent. How in the world did Sun see his beautiful doe then? Finally, Blake opened her eyes and was greeted by the sight of a simple but tasteful living room.

Great. She was going to spend the rest of her life with a living room. Wonderful. Just wonderful. Best ten lien ever.

She did like the beige couch though and the orange throw pillows. The dark wood coffee table was littered with a hard cover book, a set of keys and a remote control. On the opposite wall was a big flat screen TV hung in between two tall book cases. This living room looked exactly like something she would pick. There weren't any traces of someone else though. Her heart fell a little, but her eyes darted back to the orange throw pillows. If it were entirely up to her, she would have them in black.

She realized that she was leaning against a kitchen island. Turning around, she saw a big kitchen with white marble countertops and dark wood cupboards like the table in the living room. The big window showed a busy street outside and it looked as if she weren't in Menagerie anymore. The smell of coffee hung in the air and her eyes spotted the machine to her left. To her right, she saw a small dining area with a wooden table and white chairs.

"Good morning, Blake!" a soft voice called from behind, the words laced with tenderness and love. Blake turned around, half-expecting Adam, but mentally kicked herself because that was clearly not Adam's voice. No, it was softer. Sweeter.

If her eyes could grow any wider, they would have fallen out of her skull. Her breath caught in her throat and her heart stopped.

Standing in front of the living room was a beautiful woman, her hair a glorious mess of blonde hair against her olive skin. Her pink lips looked soft as she smiled wider. Her short yellow tank top hung over her broad muscled shoulders, accentuating her long neck and the top of her sizeable breasts. Her abs were quite the sight to see underneath her tank top and her black shorts hugged her hips like a second layer of skin.

Another quick sweep from head to toe and Blake had confirmed it. She was standing in front of a human. A stunning one at that.

Blake didn't notice how the woman had now been standing barely a few inches from her, hands gently placed just above the Faunus' elbows. Her heart was desperately trying to jump out of her chest. When her ears were drawn to the blonde's soft giggle, Blake suddenly became aware of the set above her head. Her hands shot up to cover them, barely noticing that her hair was long instead of the shorter style she usually wore.

"Blake, what's wrong?" the blonde stepped back a little, her left hand over Blake's right shoulder and her right hand buried into her long black hair, just an inch away from the base of her feline ears. "Do your ears hurt? Should we go see a doctor or something?"

Blake should've died by asphyxiation every time this woman took her breath away, but those pair of deep lilac eyes seemed to keep breathing life into her. It was like staring into the most beautiful sunrise over the ocean in her hometown. Her golden hair must be the sun then. Everything about this woman felt like home and the concern in her lilac eyes was probably what love felt like.

"Blake?" and there was that sweet voice again. Just like honey.

"N-no." She finally muttered, "I'm fine... Just dizzy."

The blonde didn't move, eyes still searching and worried, "You sure?"

"Positive." The word tumbled out with her sigh, the tiniest smile forming on her quivering lips.

The woman's lilac eyes were still set on her though and she returned Blake's smile with her own smaller one. By now, Blake had mapped out every miniscule detail within the blonde's eyes, how the lighter streaks of lilac seemed to expand from her pupils and how they darkened to the very ends of her irises. It was like watching a supernova searing itself into Blake's memory.

"Okay." the blonde whispered, pressing her lips to Blake's forehead as if it were the most natural thing to do, "I'll make some breakfast. You should sit down for a minute."

Blake closed her eyes, holding her breath as she felt warm hands slip away from her. She wanted to reach out and pull them back into her own, but the moment she tried to look, she was staring at the devious smile of Madame Leona, her hand still on the cool crystal ball.

She blinked again, wishing to go back to that kitchen. She was back in Menagerie, in the dark tent in the fairgrounds in the summer heat. She blinked once more, hoping to see that supernova in her eyes, to hear her sweet voice, but she could only hear Sun.

"Hey, Blake, you okay?" Sun covered his hand over hers on the crystal ball, "Was your true love **that** bad?"

"Oh, no. Like I said," Madame Leona whispered, blowing a faint stream of smoke after a quick puff of the pipe she produced almost out of thin air, "your friend here likes the fairer things in life. You can't deny it, child. Madame Leona has seen it."

Blake quickly got up from her seat, her back aching from how uncomfortable it was. This was all a terrible joke. Madame Leona was upset that they only paid ten lien, that's why she played a stupid trick on her and showing her with a woman. A woman! A human woman, no less. She didn't know how the lion Faunus did it, but she was sure that it had all been a trick. Blake Belladonna would never be with a woman and there was no way in all of Remnant that she would be with a human.

"Let's go, Sun." Blake didn't wait for his reply. She quickly walked out of the tent, pushing the flap out of her way and beginning her long walk home in the night. She was grateful for her night vision when she deftly avoided a puddle of god knows what it was.

"Uhh... Blake, wait!" Sun got up and followed her, "Thanks, Madame Leona!" he called out to the lion Faunus as he ran after Blake, careful not to trip on the garbage strewn about the fairgrounds and just barely jumping over the puddle.

It can't be true. It just can't be true. Blake didn't like girls. As far as she knew. No, no. She did not like girls. Even if she has only ever liked one boy. And even if she ever did like girls, it wouldn't be a human. Humans were mean. They've been harassing the Faunus even before she was born, driving them back into this sorry piece of island, cut off from the rest of the world. But the woman in her vision was kind. And oh my dust, she was beautiful.

That settled it. A beautiful human with a plain Faunus like her. That's impossible. Madame Leona was a liar.

But her mind kept coming back to those lilac eyes. And it always did for the next four years.


	2. Jump or Fall

_"I can see that you prefer the... fairer... things in life."_

Madame Leona's voice kept echoing in her head, her devious smile haunted her. It hadn't helped that Sun incessantly talked about the events of that night whenever they were together. She remembered that she ignored him on the way home that night, telling herself that it was all just a practical joke. Serves her right for trusting a dodgy woman with her last ten lien.

Sun had made sure she was safely in her house, keeping a good ten feet away from her before he tucked tail and went home himself without a single word. He knew that she was gravely upset about what happened, but knew her enough not to pry. That was the only time he never asked her about what she saw in her vision. After that, he kept trying to extract that information as if it were the meaning of life.

She relented on his twelfth attempt, sitting him down on a park bench on their walk to her house from the library. He knew exactly where she would be and so he followed her. Blake was just grateful that he didn't start bothering her until after they had left the building.

"The person I saw was a woman." She did not look at the monkey Faunus beside her.

Sun was silent for a moment, his blue eyes wide at the same floating space that had enslaved Blake's amber pair, "So that's why you turned me down."

"That's not the point, Sun!" she got up to stand directly in front of him, feeling her nails dig into the palms of her hands, "The point is I saw a woman and I don't... I'm not like that. You spent my money on some fake fortune-teller who thought it would be amusing to play tricks on us both."

"And I will pay you back when I get my allowance," Sun pulled her back to sit next to him, "So, yeah, maybe it was a prank. No harm done, right? Once I give you your three lien back, I'll even treat you to that new Spruce Willis movie. Don't think too much about it. It was still pretty funny, right?"

Blake could only smile at him, calm after his suggestion to not think too much about it. Although getting treated to a movie helped tremendously. She wasn't a very big fan of Spruce Willis, but movies are expensive and Sun was paying.

"What did this woman of yours look like?" his voice was soft, completely devoid of amusement or malice.

"I don't even remember." she lied. She could probably draw pictures of the blonde woman with her eyes closed and her lack of artistic skills. She didn't want to tell him what a beautiful mess her golden hair was, or how soothing her voice sounded, or how she kept seeing those pair of lilac eyes every single time she closed her amber ones. She was scared that if she told him, he would start thinking she were...

"Well, mine was beautiful!" Sun described to her what he saw in Madame "Cheating" Leona's tent the other night. He had just gone back to an apartment covered in sweat when a red-haired doe Faunus with "the most breathtaking pair of green eyes" greeted him with a kiss and told him to eat his breakfast at the table.

"Why is it always breakfast?" she mumbled with a dash of laughter.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the woman in my vision said she was going to make breakfast."

"Because it's the most important meal of the day!" the sarcastic tone in his voice was unmistakable, but Blake could only fight back with another nasty quip of her own.

"Sun, to you, everything is the most important meal of the day."

"And that's the truth, sister."

After a few minutes of comfortable silence, Sun and Blake continued their way back to her house. It was a silent trip and Blake appreciated how Sun could just pick up when to shut his mouth and leave her to her thoughts. Unfortunately, those very same thoughts were dangerous without his distraction.

She suspected that his mind was drifting back to his vision too, replaying the five minutes over and over, trying to imagine what the in-between of now and that morning looked like. Sixteen and already thinking of a life shared with someone else. They should be thinking about college instead.

Thankfully the weather was getting cooler now that they were fast approaching the end of summer. Blake dreaded having to go back to school, having to deal with a packed corridor of sweaty teenagers. The boys her age always kept running in the halls and the girls weren't any better. High school, you know?

At least they all got along at the end of the day.

They both turned the corner to her street. It was a peaceful neighborhood and she loved every little thing about it. If the neighbors' kids weren't running around and playing, Blake actually enjoyed lounging on their porch swing with her nose stuck in a good book. Maybe she could do that today. She did just get her hands on this interesting new book called "Ninjas of Love: The Lost Princess" the other day.

It was about a star-crossed love between two ninja apprentices, both raised by the clan to serve their master as secret spies to root out corruption and injustice throughout the province. It was just perfect. She could almost imagine the ninjas being her and Adam. She blushed at the thought, smiling to herself before Sun's words pulled her out of her reverie.

"I won't hate you if you were gay." he said softly. Blake didn't even want to look at him. He kept talking, his tone still soft. "We already get enough hate from the humans for being born with an extra limb or two so I don't think you need any more from me just because you like... you know, girls."

She clenched her fists and grinded her teeth, ignoring the pain pulsating in her jaw. Just when she thought he wouldn't piss her off, he had to say that to her. She tried to stay calm, but her voice was shaky, "I am not gay. I do not like girls. I like Adam and Madame Leona's a damn liar."

"Hey, hey," he raised his hands up in a sign of defense and surrender, "I was just saying. I didn't mean anything by it."

Blake still refused to look at him, continuing her walk to her doorstep, "Don't ever bring this up again."

She bit her tongue when she felt heat forming in the corners of her amber eyes. She will never like girls. She was straight. She will never like girls. Sun was just being an idiot. He would never understand. She was straight. She will never like girls. She was normal.

"I'm sorry." he whispered, but to her Faunus ears, it was as loud as if he was standing right next to her.

"Let's just stop talking about this, please."

"Deal." If defeat were a note, that was precisely what it sounded like.

And they stopped talking about their ten-lien visions. For a week. Sun was never very good at keeping his mouth shut, but at least he never insisted that she liked girls. He just kept talking her ears off with how excited he was to meet his pretty doe and how heavenly the food smelled in his vision.

Even after finding out how much of a crappy boyfriend Adam was in eleventh grade, Sun only spoke to her of his pretty doe. Even after noticing how Blake eyed a female pink-haired horse Faunus at a random party in twelfth grade, he never insisted that she liked girls.

Their last year was hectic with college applications, exams and school dances that she barely had any time to deal with her own angry thoughts. She hardly had any idea of what she wanted to do for the rest of her life, but these thoughts persisted, exhausting her even more.

On the rare occasion that she wasn't drowning in homework and college applications, Blake's mind wandered back to that kitchen, to the loving gaze of a pair of lilac eyes, the soothing sound of her voice and the warmth in her touch. She had learned to use that image to calm her in her most stressful moments. It worked. Maybe she was supposed to spend the rest of her life just imagining it and not actually living it.

She was straight. She will never like girls. She was normal.

The news on TV only cemented her belief that that vision was as real as Madame Leona's claim of dining with the rich and powerful.

All throughout Remnant, what started out as peaceful Faunus Rights Rallies ended in bloodshed. Petty theft and kidnapping were blamed on her kind. A bill to segregate the Faunus was passed down in a region up in Mistral. An anti-Faunus movement was actually being organized in Vacuo, causing more and more of them to flee to Menagerie, seeking refuge and a fresh start without the hate and the violence.

Remnant wasn't safe for her kind.

There were still some places that were open to the Faunus though and one of them was Vale. With the growing population of Menagerie, her parents thought it would be best to relocate there after she graduated. She was going to attend Beacon University anyway, so might as well build a home there with all of them.

Sun managed to snag a scholarship there as well, so at least she wouldn't have to deal with being the only Faunus in the campus. Her parents had assured her that there were plenty of other Faunus there and that Vale was more open as opposed to Atlas, Mistral and Vacuo.

"You remember Velvet, right?" her father mentioned over dinner one night, "She's in her second year there and she told your uncle that she has plenty of Faunus friends there."

Truth was, her father had gotten a promotion at his company and he had to be transferred to their offices in Vale. Ironwood Industries was one of the few companies that didn't treat the Faunus in contempt, unlike the notorious Schnee Dust Company.

A student at her school said that his uncle had gone missing after reporting the illegal practices within the company and the Atlesian authorities did nothing. A missing person's report had been filed, but the police had only spent less than a day looking for the man before abandoning the case. No lawsuit had ever been filed against the SDC.

Humans were cruel.

Her first day at Beacon University validated that belief.

She and Sun had been walking around the huge campus, trying to figure out which one of their classes was going to be in which building. Blake would have called Velvet for help, but she wasn't even back from her vacation. Fresh off the boat and completely on their own, they soldiered on.

Most of the humans looked at them funny, but had just walked away without saying a word. Some of them had actually helped them figure things out and there were some of them who spat curses and indecent words at the two Faunus. But the worst of them all was a tall, muscular boy with light brown hair and cruelty in his blue eyes.

His name was Cardin Winchester.

"This school just keeps letting in more strays every year." Cardin had said as he yanked Blake's schedule from her hands. His friends were equally as cruel, pulling Sun's tail hard and throwing an empty coffee cup at her head, "We don't want your kind here, you filthy worms."

His friends cheered him on. Blake looked around at the other students who openly gaped at them. They did nothing. They simply watched as this boy was humiliating them, throwing racial slurs at them and outright hurting them.

If she hadn't been watching the news, she would have panicked. No, this was a normal occurrence outside of the safety of Menagerie. Humans harassed the Faunus every day. This was nothing new. In every corner of Remnant, there was always a human with his fist raised high and a Faunus down on his knees. This was normal.

"Go back to the forest where you belong." With that, he ripped her schedule in two and let the shreds fall to the ground, spitting in their direction. Sun was just about to attack him when the blond with the mohawk yanked his tail, dragging him to the ground, laughing as they disappeared into the ocean of students who allowed the whole thing to happen.

Cardin and his friends were evil and, as the saying goes, _all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing_. Blake looked around at the humans who had now turned their backs on them and she bitterly thought, "everyone else here is more so."

Blake and Sun did their best to avoid Cardin and his posse from that moment on. Most days, they were lucky, but in the rare occasions that they were cornered, they were lucky to come out with just a bruise or two.

Blake never told her parents. Her mother had finally gotten a job as an office assistant in some local used car company. The pay was meager, but at least it paid and the owner wasn't some narrow-minded bigot.

Most of all, she didn't want to ruin her father's hard work. If she would ever tell him that she was being harassed by some kids at school, he would either march into the campus and hurt someone or quit his job and drag them back to Menagerie.

No, Blake stayed quiet.

It wasn't that bad. Most other students ignored her and Sun and Velvet had actually introduced them to the few other Faunus in the campus. Together, they had all created a sort of support group and made the best of friends, but since they all had different majors and schedules, they rarely get to see each other.

Her fellow Faunus made her first and second years at Beacon University bearable and actually fun for a few days at a time. They had all spent their summers together, hanging out in Faunus-accepting establishments, scouring the streets of Vale for any Faunus-only bars and holding little get-togethers when one's parents were out of town for a weekend.

Subconsciously, they were all just trying to milk their little bit of peace before they had to go back to school and scurry to their classes, keeping to themselves and hiding from the bullies.

Such was the Faunus' life, feet light and living in the shadows. Just like the ninjas in her now-favorite book series.

They might not be safe, but at least they were unharmed.

The first week of her third year went by without a hitch. Cardin and his friends were nowhere to be found. She didn't even feel bad for wishing that they had been kicked out of the university. She had even already memorized the campus by heart, briefly checking her schedule and making her way to Bailey Hall. If Cardin or his associates were still enrolled at this school, Blake was sure they would never be around that building.

But lo and behold, Cardin Winchester was by himself, standing a few feet from the doors, apparently waiting for someone.

 _Was he waiting for me_? Blake thought, her legs twitching to run before he could spot her.

Her body completely stopped when the door opened and she saw her. Smooth olive skin framed by golden hair in a lazy ponytail, her smile as enchanting as the one she had seen in Madame Leona's tent four years ago. It was her. It was the woman that she was said to spend the rest of her life with.

Even in an oversized gray hoodie with Beacon University printed in gold on her chest, black leggings and matching black sneakers, she looked magnificent.

Blake hadn't thought about her too much since moving to Vale, what with the constant threat to her life and the assignments and projects the professors had been giving her. That vision only served to calm her down when she was on the verge of pulling her hair out.

She had forgotten all about that evening in the fair, but now every single detail flashed in her mind, as if they had never left her mind: the beige couch with the orange throw pillows, the white dining table, the smell of the coffee, how she kissed Blake's forehead, but most especially the concern in her lilac eyes.

She felt a sudden wave of homesickness, missing the sunrises back in Menagerie. They had always been the same color as the blonde woman's eyes.

What was she supposed to do? If she had only had twenty-five lien, Madame Leona probably might have shown her how they met ― or how they will meet ― all those years ago. Blake could feel a mild headache coming.

No, she only had ten lien four years ago, Madame Leona was a swindler and this was all just a nauseating coincidence. It would be best to just ignore her and get on with her life. She was straight. She will never like girls. She was normal.

But those lilac eyes...

Should she walk up to her and introduce herself? Would a tiny part of the woman's soul recognize her as the missing piece of her life? Blake berated herself for thinking as if she were in one of her romance novels. This was real life, not Ninjas of Love 3: The Overlapping Destinies.

But the protagonist's words came to mind and calmed her, steeling her resolve: _"If you don't jump, you fall."_

It sounded better in the book really. The bridge was collapsing beneath the Surefooted Ninja's feet and his only chance for survival was to jump onto the overhanging rock and scale the mountainside to get to the Temple of Destiny.

This was kind of the same. Kind of.

She was the Surefooted Ninja and the blonde was her Destiny and all it took was to scale the mountainside known as Cardin Winchester. But Destiny seemed to be smiling widely at the mountainside who had now moved closer.

 _If you don't jump, you fall_.

Blake definitely fell the moment the blonde woman pressed her lips against Cardin's. Her hands around his neck, pulling him close as he snaked his arms around her waist.

She watched as the most evil man she had ever had the misfortune of meeting hold the hand of the woman who held the sunrise in her eyes as they walked in the other direction, away from her. They barely even realized she was there.

 _I guess the sun never rises for the Surefooted Ninja. Damn Ninjas of Love. Damn Madame Leona._


	3. Implosion

Three weeks, two days, four hours and twenty-one minutes.

It had been three weeks, two days, four hours and twenty-one minutes since Blake had stood in front of Bailey Hall, mouth gaping at the sight of the most vile creature to walk the face of Remnant kissing the blonde woman she had previously thought was a figment of Madame Leona's angry imagination.

Her bedroom was dark, save for a lamp on her desk by the door. She had tried to study earlier that night, her textbooks open and her notes haphazardly piled on top of them. Her single bed was pushed back to the corner, opposite the white wooden bookcase that held her massive book collection. Her other books couldn't fit in the shelves, so she had to put some of them in the bookcase in their living room.

The room had a built-in closet that was painted the same light blue as the rest of her walls. Above her desk was a two-by-four foot whiteboard where she had posted her schedule, syllabus, some memos and a few photographs of her friends back in Menagerie, a photo of her and her parents vacationing in Mistral, and a group photo with Adam. She initially didn't want to put it up, but it was a good picture and she looked good in it too.

She looked out the window beside her, down at the peaceful street that was illuminated by the street lights. Everyone else was sleeping by now. Her bed was white underneath the thick mattress. The covers were white as well, except for the lavender blanket and pillow she was now splaying over, wrestling with thoughts she couldn't comprehend or control.

It had also been three weeks, two days, four hours and sixteen minutes since she last spoke to Sun and it had not been a good conversation. It was mostly just Sun asking if she wanted to have lunch with him and she had just shoved him aside with a brusque "leave me alone!"

He had called and texted her a lot after that incident, but she never replied. Whenever they would bump into each other on campus, she would always tell him she was running late or she had a paper to submit to a professor. When Sun had decided to stop by her house one weekend, she had begged her mother to tell him she was out.

She missed him.

She wanted to talk to him. She wanted to tell him that the blonde woman in her vision was real and she had walked out of her department building and had locked lips with the man who had made their lives a living hell.

But she was scared too.

She was scared of the 16-year-old monkey Faunus who walked her back to her house from the library. She was scared of the 18-year-old monkey Faunus who had caught her staring at a pink-haired horse Faunus at a house party when they were in twelfth grade.

She didn't want to hear him say it nor see him look at her that way ever again. Blake was straight. She will never like girls. She was normal.

What happened three weeks ago was simply just her being surprised that the blonde woman had been real. She was certain that Madame Leona had played a nasty trick on her and Sun all those years ago. Nobody in all of Remnant could ever see into the future, not for ten lien, not for ten million lien. It was simply impossible.

The future was something that a person creates. When given two different paths, the road they take forks into more paths, creating a spider's web of choices and consequences. There were no ready-made maps. The path simply does not exist yet and they had to make it through a series of questions and answers on their own.

And these answers were never found at the bottom of a crystal ball.

The worst part of what happened three weeks ago was seeing Cardin Winchester, the epitome of hell on Remnant, having someone who actually saw him as anything other than the bully that he truly was. Nobody could possibly pretend to be a nice guy and turn into a complete monster behind your back. Right?

Unless, of course, you were just as cruel as he was.

She was a beautiful woman and even she, a ** _straight_** **Faunus** , could see that. She held power and privilege the likes of which Blake could never hope to attain. The smile on her face looked as if she had never known tragedy or hurt. Blake wondered if the blonde woman had ever even spoken to a Faunus before.

She was a human.

Humans were cruel.

Even if she never raised a hand against a Faunus in her entire life, Blake could see that she would be just like the students who had watched how Cardin terrorized them on their first day at the university. Who knows? Maybe she had been there, watching and laughing at them, cheering on the valiant deeds of Cardin Winchester.

Humans were cruel.

She was straight.

She will never like girls.

She was normal.

Blake kept repeating those words as she tried to push back the memory of the vision aside. She didn't want to remember the kindness and warmth of her touch, the concern in her lilac eyes. Could it even be called a memory if it had never happened? It would never even happen. Not four years ago, not four years from now or ever.

Also, she has a boyfriend. Even if Cardin was a parasite, he was still her boyfriend. **Boyfriend**. She obviously likes men, human men. Even if Blake thought that she had a chance ― not that she thought she did ― she was certain that she didn't have one now. Zero.

It would be best to just forget about it all and actually start studying for her test next week. She only had three chapters to sift through and she was hoping she could spend her weekend reading a novel instead of boring textbooks. Ninjas of Love was out of the question. That damned book series only gave her stupid ideas of love and conquering injustice. This was the real world and the real world hated her.

But why can't she stop thinking about her?

Why couldn't she stop thinking of how a few golden locks curled at the base of her neck, how her cheeks flushed a soft shade of pink when she smiled, how her hips swayed when she walked, how soft her lips were against her forehead and how her hands were warm, strong, but gentle, how -

 _"Stop this, Blake."_ she thought to herself, _"Stop thinking about her."_

She grabbed the pillow behind her head and pressed it against her face, trying maybe to crush the thoughts out of her, but she knew better. They were still going to be there and she had no idea how to handle them.

It was almost one in the morning when she finally fell asleep.

She awoke from a dreamless sleep the next day, minutes before her alarm clock was due to ring. This was one of Blake's favorite moments; the brief instant where nothing seemed to exist and she was fully aware. Eyes open, wide awake, but numb. This was the most peaceful moment she has had all month and she relished every fleeting second of it.

It wasn't long before a heaviness pitched its tent within her chest followed by the blaring sound of her alarm clock. Calmly, she pushed back her blanket, silenced the alarm and headed to the bathroom to shower. This was another day, another battle with an opponent she couldn't name.

After patting herself dry, she pulled a white and navy striped sweater over her black tank top, pushing the sleeves up to her elbows. She slipped on a pair of black jeans and completed her look with a pair of black boots. She really loved the color black. It was just so simple and easy to match with everything else. Hell, her name means black if you translated it.

"Honey," her mom called out. She was probably in the kitchen, getting ready to go to work, "come down for breakfast. I'll drop you off to school today."

Blake quickly shoved her textbooks into her bag and silently rushed down the stairs into the dining area that opened to their kitchen. Apart from the white tile floors and the fancy appliances, the wooden design made it look almost the same as the kitchen they had back in Menagerie.

Her mother was washing the frying pan and her father was already seated in one of the six chairs, helping himself to a piece of bacon, but careful not to stain his white shirt and dark blue tie. Ghira Belladonna was a naturally hairy man and seeing him with his beard shaved was peculiar, but he still looked handsome.

"Good morning, honey!" he beamed, unconsciously rubbing his naked jaw while his other hand raised his forkful of eggs to his mouth.

"Morning, dad." she smiled at him, placing her bag on the empty surface on the table, "Morning, mom. Um... I thought your shift starts at ten."

Kali Belladonna was in a white shirt, the top two buttons opened to reveal a simple golden necklace that her husband had given her last year. Her hair was short, a few inches above her shoulder, which only made the cat ears on top of her head more prominent.

There was a family joke that Blake was the carbon copy of her mother. They had the same amber eyes, the same lips, the same cat ears, the same nose, the same tastes. The one thing that she inherited from her father was his love of literature and thankfully not his feline feet. Finding a pair of shoes for Ghira Belladonna was a chore.

"My boss asked me to come early today." she said, walking over to stand behind her husband. She must have already eaten, "There's a big sale coming up next week and it was either coming in early or staying late. I'd rather eat your dad's cooking than have microwave pasta."

"We're having halibut tonight." he smiled warmly. That was how it had been for years. Her mother cooked in the morning while he made dinner when he got home. Well, when he wasn't doing overtime and being a big boss, it didn't happen as much as it used to.

"I don't wanna miss that." Blake loved her family so much and she knew they loved her too. Especially when Sun wasn't around to hog all of their attention.

The ride to Beacon University took about fifteen minutes and she and her mother had spent it listening to the news on the radio. Blake didn't mind. For once, it was pleasant news. The new president of Mistral had had the Faunus segregation bill rescinded, but the civil unrest in Vacuo was still ongoing. The only report they had heard from Atlas was that the Schnee Dust Company was going to open a branch in Vale and was expected to open in two years.

Blake groaned while Kali remained quiet. It was only a matter of time before the SDC decided to set up branches all over Remnant. They even already have one in Mistral and they were probably still in the planning phase of setting one up in Vacuo.

She asked her mother to drop her off outside of the campus. She needed the fresh air and walking helped her calm down. She needed to talk to Sun, maybe not about what she saw three weeks ago, but about the way she had been acting. Of course, he would ask her what was up. Sun wasn't stupid or ignorant. He just has different priorities. She knew that he knew she was avoiding him and she had to come up with a reason before she sees him.

"Blake!" Perfect timing. No, wait. She wasn't ready, "Blake, I know you can hear me."

She felt a tail wrap around her wrist, the fur tickling her slightly. For its width, it had a pretty strong grip, able to support Sun's full weight whenever he decided to hang upside down from a tree branch. Blake wondered if she could be able to do that if she had a tail.

"Blake, you've been gone for a month." he said, pulling her to face him. His style never changed; white shirt, folded blue jeans and sneakers, only this time, the buttons were all closed, "You're not picking up calls, replying to any messages and you're never home. What gives?"

 _I saw the blonde woman from my vision in this very school and she was kissing Cardin._

"I'm sorry," she stammered, trying to avoid his blue eyes, "I've just been... preoccupied with... exams and homework. And it's only been three weeks." Half-lie. She hardly studied last night.

"And this week is almost ending, so that's almost a month which is basically a whole month." Blake just blinked at him, trying to keep a straight face, "I've known you for years, Blake. I know something's up. Hell, even Neon noticed and you guys have only hung out like, what, three times?"

"Look, Sun, I've just been really stressed out, okay? I thought I could just take a break so that I wouldn't take it out on all of you, but I realized that it only made things worse."

That wasn't a lie.

"I miss hanging out with you, honest." she continued, a soft smile on her face "This isolation's driving me insane."

"Well, that's great news!" his tail now slipped from her wrist, his fists over his chest and shoulders almost touching his ears. Blake didn't even have to ask if he was happy about her going crazy. She knew what he meant. "We're all getting together this weekend with some humans!"

Blake's smile faded, "Humans?"

"Oh don't be a racist, Blake. They're cool. We've been spending some time together too. You would know if you hadn't disappeared for a month."

Blake ignored being called a racist. She tugged his arm so they could both start walking. She knew his story was going to be a long one and she didn't want to be late. Bailey Hall was a little too far away from all of the other buildings.

Sun told her that he had met a guy named Neptune in one of his classes, how he thought he was going to be a jerk because he looked like a condescending guy and he had cool blue hair. Sun, who was very much proud of being a Faunus, had actually tried to hide his tail from his new friend. Eventually, Neptune found out and was pretty calm about it.

"We're actually gonna have some pizza tonight." Sun announced when they arrived in front of her building, "Me, Neon, Neptune, his two other friends annnnnd you?"

Blake didn't know what to say. Just last night, she kept thinking about how cruel the humans were to her kind, remembering how they all just looked away every time Cardin and his friends harassed them. In her years here at Beacon, not one human had ever made the effort of trying to get to know her, let alone be friends with her, but Sun did say they were nice.

"Sure, why not?" If Sun, her girlhood friend, the man she trusted second to her father, says that his human friends weren't bigots, then she might as well get to know them.

"Sweet!" Blake pushed him away, knowing he would try to hug her, "I'll call you around four?"

"My class ends at four-thirty."

"Four-thirty, then!" he beamed, "You're gonna pick up this time, right?"

Blake laughed the guilt aside, "Yes. I promise."

With a smile and a wave, they both went their separate ways. Sun was content to know that she was going to spend time with her friends again and Blake was actually looking forward to tonight. The news on the radio must have been a sign that the whole world was painfully slowly becoming less anti-Faunus. She wondered what Neptune would be like, if he would like her too.

At four-thirty that afternoon, Sun had called to meet him and Neon in front of the Life Sciences building where they hung out with Velvet before she had to go to her next class. Blake missed Velvet and she can't help but feel that she missed her the most among her friends.

At five-fifteen, Blake found herself seated in Leelu's Pizza Dome outside of campus, surrounded by Sun, Neon and their new friends, Neptune, Sage and Scarlet. When Sun told her that Neptune had blue hair, she expected highlights, but his whole head was entirely blue and this Sage guy had green hair. Scarlet's red hair wasn't that unusual, but she noted that they all had crazy hair colors. Despite Sage's intimidating exterior and Scarlet's many piercings and face tattoo, they were in fact nice young men. A far cry to how Cardin and his friends were.

Sun and Neptune instantly clicked when they met because of this online shooting game that Sun has been playing since Blake stopped hanging out with him. It was convenient since this "MMORPG" needed four players and the three humans always had trouble finding a fourth player. They stuck like glue in their game and even in real life.

Blake was happy for Sun, but she couldn't help but feel left out.

"I hope that game doesn't pull your grades down." Blake teased.

"Hey, my grades are fine. I rank twelfth in my class." Sun replied over the group's laughing.

"Yeah, twelfth lowest." Neptune added, covering his mouth with his soda cup. Everyone roared with laughter as Sun pretended to be mortally wounded, hand over his chest.

"You and Sun act like an old married couple." Sage said to Blake. Everyone suddenly turned their heads to her, still stifling some laughter, but obviously waiting for a response.

"Yeah, well I'm just waiting for him to sign the divorce papers so I can get half of his dirty laundry and gym equipment." she said as dryly as she could, but keeping a straight face was hard at this point.

They all laughed. They spent the next two hours laughing and joking with each other. In that table of theirs, it didn't matter that Neon Katt had a pink feline tail or that Sun had a blond monkey tail or that she had two big cat ears on her head. It also didn't matter that Neptune, Sage and Scarlet had funky hair styles without any animal limbs. In that table, they were friends.

Within those two hours, Blake noticed how Sage had moved to sit on the vacant chair next to Neon and herself, how in between their joking and teasing, Scarlet had been flirting with a man in another table. She turned away and tried to distract herself with Neon and Sage, but the two of them seemed to be having a conversation she and everyone else was not invited to.

Blake spent three weeks losing sleep over all of this, she figured she should just let it all happen. They weren't hurting anybody and it would seem like she was the only one who noticed her friends' behaviors. Maybe this was all normal.

The same old thoughts kept swirling in her mind that night when she tucked herself in bed. Had the world changed in just three weeks? Could a human and a Faunus be happy? Could a man and a man be happy together? Could Madame Leona be right? It doesn't matter. Blake was in control of her future and she has chosen her own path.

She was straight. She will never like girls. She was normal. And she was okay with it.


	4. Cold Shoulder

"So, whaddya think?" Sun asked her, buttoning his white shirt the minute they stepped into Beacon University. Blake stopped wondering if he only had one shirt or if he ever washed it three years ago, "Nep, Sage and Scarlet were cool, right?"

"Yes, they were very cool." Blake pulled Sun closer underneath her umbrella. It was as black as her hair, jacket and boots. Her jeans were light blue so as not to look like a vampire in this weather. She did wear all-black once and she had gotten suspicious looks after that. Something about her ears and her eyes made her look predatory. It made everyone and herself very uncomfortable.

Today was gloomy, casting every vibrant color that the campus once had under a dreary shade of gray. Blake would have loved the atmosphere and the rain if only she were back at home, wrapped in her thick purple blanket, reading a mystery novel with a steaming cup of tea. No, she was here at Beacon University, braving the rain with the monkey Faunus beside her.

"Not as bad as you thought they were, huh?" she felt him shiver from the cold, but since he didn't even bring his own umbrella, he must not have known it was going to rain today. It was odd considering he lived within university grounds, in the dorms that was a fifteen-minute walk from the main entrance.

"No, they are definitely not like Cardin." she said matter-of-factly.

"You know, I'm glad he hasn't been bothering us this semester. It must be because he's got that hot new girlfriend."

Blake bit her tongue. It didn't hurt as much as the tightening in her chest, "We should thank her then."

"Yeah. You shoulda seen her though. She was so pretty, like a movie star or ― or a model. She's got tits for days too."

Blake cringed at that, "Nothing less for dear old Cardin Winchester. I bet their personalities go together like their dumb faces."

Blake Belladonna prided herself in her wide vocabulary. She does spend most of her free time cultivating that and relished in the moments where she could use new and sophisticated words in a regular conversation. Not when she was upset though. When she was upset, her tongue seemed to favor the words a ten-year-old would use.

"I wouldn't know. I don't see them much. Getting busy, I bet." Sun waggled his brows and clicked his tongue. Blake didn't need further explanation. She was relieved that Sun never pushed on with that subject. Anything that had to do with Cardin Winchester led to an appalling conversation and with today's damp weather, it suited them to avoid it.

The two friends talked more about everything that happened last night and Sun filled her in about how Sage and Neon had been getting really friendly since they all started hanging out. He even thinks that they were already dating by now. Velvet had been busier lately as well. It would seem that she had made human friends of her own. He assured her that she was going to meet them all this weekend.

A Faunus and a human being friends wasn't entirely new, but a Faunus and a human dating? This was the first time Blake had ever heard of it happening. Well, not really. It happened to some other Faunus, someone she doesn't even know, who was far, far away from where she was. For it to happen right in front of her felt like something right out of her novels. What's next, a Faunus and a human dating and they were both female?

Blake looked around at the few people out in the rain. She noted a man and a woman under an umbrella, arms locked and faces giddy and flushed. Then she saw a man and another man, arms locked as well.

She was well-aware that relationships were no longer based solely on procreation. She was aware that some people preferred relationships with their own sex or both. Hell, she's even heard of someone who preferred to be intimate with machines. But she never really thought about it. Her books have always been about the knight saving the princess from the tower, the monster prince who believed in goodness because of a fair maiden, and the dishonored ninja who vies for the princess' heart.

Spruce Willis always had a younger, female love interest. Thom Sailor's exchanges with someone of the same sex on-screen always involved fistfights. It would be interesting to see them make out for a change.

Although there was one time when she was fifteen, she had seen a show on TV with two smart women: a police woman and an ex-con seeking redemption. Blake had always noticed how each look they shared lasted a second too long or how they stood too close to each other. Even when they were standing idly by in the back of the scene, Blake noticed something between these two women.

That was when she first knew that two women can fall in love with each other. Until the ex-con had been killed off and the police woman ended up with her childish partner. She never saw that ending coming, but a part of her knew it was going to happen. Because that was normal.

 _And so am I._

They both stopped in front of Mercer Building, one of the newer facilities that was built, or remodeled, closer to the entrance. Blake liked the baroque design of the exterior and the roomy modern twist of the lecture halls. It even has its own cafeteria and a couple of vending machines at the end of the main hall.

"Well, this is my stop." Blake announced, cautiously putting her foot down so as not to kick rain puddles onto Sun's beat-up sneakers.

"Ugh..." Sun scratched his neck, his blue eyes refusing to look at her, "Can I borrow your umbrella? I left mine at the dorm."

She knew it. He didn't even have to say it, but he did wait for her at the entrance. He could have just gone straight to his classes, but he stood near the main gate to wait for her. The least she could do was lend him her umbrella.

"Pick me up in two hours." her voice even, handing him her open umbrella, "Don't be late or else."

"Thanks, you're the best!" Sun beams at her before he runs off, her umbrella tipping to one side.

Professor Port's class was boring and he tended to trail off into some wild stories of himself when he was _"just a strapping young lad"_ fending off a horde of teenage girls. He was so into his current tale that most of his students had fallen asleep and he didn't even notice.

Barely two months in and she could already feel herself getting tired of his lectures. The other students never really talked to her either, except for a black-haired boy named Ren. He sat in the back on the other side of the room, probably sleeping or reading. He was nice to her and spoke to her occasionally, but never to the point of actually becoming friends. She wanted to ask him why he had a pink streak on his hair though. She thought it was best not to.

Two hours later and they had all rushed out of the room, afraid that Professor Port might pull them aside for another one of his stories. Blake waited for the crowd to thin out by the door before she left the room.

The hall was empty now and she watched as other students pulled out their umbrellas to brave the never-ending rain. She pulled out her Scroll to check the time; twenty minutes until her next class in Bailey Hall. Sun should be here by now.

She dialed his number, but he wasn't picking up. Great. He must have forgotten all about borrowing her umbrella and promising to pick her up. After the third unanswered call, Blake looked at the now-empty corridor then to the rain. Bailey Hall was a ten-minute walk from here. She stepped forward, hesitating. She did not like the rain at all, but she didn't want to be late either.

"A-are you going to Bailey Hall, too?" a small voice squeaked behind her. She turned around and saw an equally smaller girl with an open red umbrella. She had short black hair dyed red at the tips and a pair of kind silver eyes Blake had never seen before. She looked like a high school student in her white shirt, denim jumper and red sneakers.

"Yes." Blake replied, slipping her phone back into her pocket, "Are you new here?"

"Yeah," the girl flushed, her hand found its way behind her neck and she avoided Blake's eyes, "I'm a freshman and I've seen you in Bailey Hall a lot and thought that maybe you wanted to share my umbrella. I'm Ruby." she sheepishly looked at Blake.

"I'm Blake." she reached out her hand and Ruby shook it, "I'm in my third year. I haven't seen you around though, sorry."

"That's okay. You're probably busy being a junior and all and I've just been trying to know my way around and making some friends. I hang out in Willingham Building a lot because that's where my sister is. She tells me to make my own friends and so that's why I'm here."

This girl sure can talk really fast, Blake thought. She was probably just really nervous about meeting new people. Blake could only smile at the genuine kindness of the offer, "Shall we?"

"Wait for me!" loud, hurried footsteps approach them and in a flash, somebody had grabbed Ruby's umbrella.

The two of them turn to see the blonde woman in a loose orange shirt underneath a black bomber jacket with yellow sleeves, gray jeans and a pair of blue sneakers. Embroidered on the jacket's left chest was a cartoonish bee inside a yellow hexagon. Her hair was disheveled and free, kind of like the illustrations of the sun in most picture books and her cheeks were pink. The air was cold, but there was warmth in Blake's chest.

"Guh," the smaller girl groaned and was speaking at about a hundred and twenty words per minute, "Where were you? You said you'd be here five minutes ago and I didn't want to be late for my next class and we were just about to leave, but I couldn't stop worrying and wondering where you were."

Blake just blinked, still processing the first sentence that she had heard, but the blonde was just grinning widely at her. It looked as if they have known each other for years.

"Well, I'm glad I caught up to you then." she giggled and Blake felt her stomach flip, "There was a line at the vending machine."

"Hi." Blake said, common courtesy aside, unable to stop herself. Was she being rude, interrupting their conversation like this? She half-expected the blonde to ignore her and half-expected to see a pair of angry lilac eyes, but the blonde simply looked at her and smiled.

"Oh, hello! I'm Yang."

Her name was Yang. Four years of unending sunrises and warm touches in the back of her mind, Blake never felt like she needed a name and it didn't feel like this was the first time she had heard it. But this **was** the first time she heard it and suddenly Blake thought of honey in her tea, how beautiful the name was as it rolled out of the blonde's lips, how it sounded in her sweet voice. What would it sound like in Blake's own voice? What would it feel like on her lips?

Ruby must have felt the seconds passing. They were going to be late after all, "Yang, this is Blake. Blake, this is my sister, Yang."

"Nice to meet you. We should get going, you two." Yang moved past them and Ruby followed.

Half a heartbeat later, Ruby and Blake flanked Yang who was happily holding the umbrella above them all. She was the tallest, after all. Blake did her best not to walk too fast that she would go ahead of them and not too slow that Yang would collide with her. Blake Belladonna was feeling a cataclysm inside of her and she had to keep a calm exterior for the next ten minutes, in such proximity as the one who stirred dangerous emotions within her.

"You shouldn't have skipped breakfast this morning." Ruby spoke to Yang, her big silver eyes trained at the graveled path in front of them.

"I didn't want to be late, Rubes." Yang replied, her voice even.

It must have been her voice, or how close they were, but Blake found herself drifting to her left, just a little bit. The red umbrella may be big enough to fit all three of them, but only if they were really close together. She had to keep her innards from going crazy or else everything that had been haunting her for the past four years would come spilling out onto the pavement. She didn't want a little bit of her breakfast to follow suit.

The raindrops fell on her shoulder, but she didn't mind. She may not like the rain, but maybe the cold would wake her up from this... nightmare? Dream? Was this really happening?

A sudden warmth found itself over her left shoulder, pulling her back from the rain, "Hey, you're getting a little wet there. Move in a little bit."

Blake allowed herself a look at Yang and was met with a smile as warm as her touch. Her feline ears flattened over her long black hair and her human ears turned pink; she tried her best not to purr. It was definitely ridiculous to her, but she knew this was exactly how it felt in her vision. She wanted to say something. She wanted to keep hearing her voice. But what was she supposed to say?

 _Hi, I paid ten lien to see my true love and I saw you, so now you have to break up with your boyfriend and be with me._

"So," Yang began, probably noticing the nervous silence that hung in the air. Blake was just content that her hand was still on her shoulder, "are you new here?"

"No, I'm a - in my third year." Blake wasn't sure if a raindrop had fallen on her forehead or if it was her own sweat, "Political science."

"Me too!" there was pride and excitement in Ruby's voice, "That's why I always see you in Bailey Hall."

"That's weird." Yang pouted, her brows furrowing. How can someone look this beautiful with a confused expression? This was ridiculous, "Why haven't I seen you around? I've been to that building a dozen times for this imp."

"I'm not an imp!" Ruby squeaked after getting nudged in the shoulder, "And you spent the last two years either holed up in the apartment or drunk every weekend."

"Not every weekend. Besides, I had to study hard and get awesome grades, Rubes. You would do well to follow in my footsteps." Yang announced.

"Yeah and your awesome grades flew out the window after you got a boyfriend." Ruby joked back, a condescending note in the way she said "boyfriend".

Blake frowned. That's right. She was Cardin's girlfriend. Her lips had kissed the mouth that had spat on her countless times before and the gentle hand on her shoulder has held the fist that had hurt her. Blake had even barely noticed when it had fallen away, leaving her shoulder freezing once more.

"That's why **you** are not allowed to have a boyfriend until **after** you graduate." Yang teased, pinching Ruby's cheek.

"Ugh... you sound like dad." Ruby didn't even swat Yang's hand away and just slumped her shoulders. Blake thought it was an amusing sight, but now she couldn't get Cardin out of her mind.

Did these two human girls even notice the ears on her head? They never mentioned it or stared at it. Blake expected Ruby to, but she was far too busy rubbing at her raw cheek. Yang was still giggling at her sister, not putting her hand back on Blake's shoulder.

 _Why should she?_

Blake wondered if that same gentle hand had formed into a fist and struck a Faunus. If Ruby hadn't invited her to walk with them, would Yang even speak to her? She did ignore her in the hallway earlier. Blake even went as far as to imagine that a date between Yang and Cardin involved picking on an innocent Faunus, trying to find out who could spit out the cruelest insults. She imagined her laughing in the sidelines as Cardin battered one of her friends.

She didn't want to look at Yang again. She wanted to believe in her current imagination so that she wouldn't have to see the sunrise anymore or feel the warmth in her touch. She was scared that if she turned around to see her smiling at her, she would think of Madame Leona, the dark tent and the cold crystal ball.

It was just a trick. Madame Leona had tricked her into believing that this human was anything but what she imagined her to be. She was just as cruel as Cardin and hidden behind her smile was the shadow of betrayal.

She didn't want to hope that Yang was everything she saw in that vision, that she cared about her, that she could love her. Because if she did start to hope, it would tear her to pieces when the touches turn to punches.

Blake steeled herself to look at Yang once more, expecting to see cruelty in her eyes and malice in her lips. That was the image that she wanted in her memory. That was the image that would quell all sparks of hope and she could finally move on. Yang wasn't even looking at her, but when she turned to Blake, she smiled.

With that, the sunrise was back and the kindness in her lilac eyes had stoked a bigger fire in Blake's chest. The supernova that had seared itself into her memory had now spread into her heart. Blake could only return her smile with a smaller one of her own before she looked away as calmly as she possibly could.

Luckily, they had already reached Bailey Hall. Ruby held the door open for them to get out of the rain. Yang folded the umbrella shut and handed it back to Ruby, taking a step forward before she suddenly stopped. Blake and Ruby just looked at her. She turned back to look at them, her smile was replaced with a frown and she had that ridiculously beautiful confused expression on her face again.

"This isn't Willingham." Yang said, almost a question, but definitely a statement.

"No, Yang." Ruby sighed, "This is Bailey Hall. I thought you knew."

"No, I thought your class was in Willingham." her lilac eyes were wide with panic and disbelief.

"That's tomorrow!"

"Ah, crap." Yang stepped around Ruby, her hair brushing over Blake's shoulder as she passed, "I'm gonna be late."

"Wait," Ruby threw the umbrella over to her sister when she reached the door, "take my umbrella. Run!"

They must have done this thousands of times because Yang had masterfully caught it with a smile and a wink, fumbling with the umbrella as she stepped outside, "Call me when you're done, Rubes. Bye, Blake!"

Ruby shook her head and sighed. They definitely have done this thousands of times before. The smaller girl gave Blake the widest smile her lips could allow and proceeded to go up the stairs. Blake was still speechless at the whole encounter until she felt her Scroll vibrating in her pocket. It was Sun.

"Blake, Blake!" he said, "I'm sorry I completely forgot. My professor dismissed us early so I went back to the dorm to get my umbrella, but I kinda fell asleep, but I'm here now. Where are you? Did you walk in the rain?"

"No, Sun." she said softly. Normally, her soft voice signaled a deep-rooted anger, but after everything that had just happened, she couldn't even be irritated that Sun had forgotten, "I'm already in Bailey Hall. Some girls let me tag along with them."

"I will run right over with your umbrella." he sounded nervous.

"Five minutes." her signature tone present before she hung up.

She stood by the door so that Sun would easily spot her. Her class was probably about to start, but she didn't really mind being late and Professor Peach didn't mind latecomers either.

Blake couldn't help but smile at her feet. Four years and she had finally gotten a name to the face that had given her both comfort and dread, but the best part of today was hearing that sweet voice say her name. _Bye, Blake_. She had only said it once, but Blake heard it a dozen times in her mind. Her own name had never before sounded that captivating.

The rain was pouring outside, but Blake swore she saw the sunrise. And her name was Yang.


	5. Déjà Vu

"Sun," Blake said pulling the monkey Faunus away from Neptune, Neon and Sage when she found them in the cafeteria near the men's dormitory, "what I'm about to tell you stays between us, okay?"

"Okay." Sun was a little apprehensive. Blake had excused herself from the party that weekend in favor of reading one of her books. After having known her for years, he was already used to her staying in.

It was a great party. It wasn't a call-the-cops kind of party though. Sure, there was beer, keg stands and a lot of dancing, but it was mellow and intimate. Just a bunch of friends hanging out and unwinding after a tumultuous week of schooling. Sun wanted Blake to be a part of the unwinding. She had been very distant since the start of the semester and meeting new friends would have been a good change for her, especially the humans who had attended the said unwinding.

It was a sunny Tuesday outside and plenty of Beacon University's students had come out and lounged about in the grass or some of the benches. There was even a couple of humans playing flag football in the open field next to Mercer Building. Blake intentionally steered clear of them, finding a secluded spot where they could speak in private.

"The party was great." Sun started, when Blake opted to pace in front of him than starting the conversation, "I met your friend, Ren, there. Cool guy. And his girlfriend too. I think her name was Nora? Oh, and Coco was friends with the volleyball team. They were there too. Pyrrha Nikos is a lot hotter in person."

"Sun." her amber eyes glared at him. Out of all the names that he had mentioned, the only one she recognized was Ren.

"You're scaring me." Sun stepped back a little.

"Sorry." she looked away and started pacing again.

"What did you wanna talk about?"

"Do you remember when we went to that fair four years ago and we saw visions of the future?"

"Yes. You and I both saw women. You were upset about that." He nodded. Blake rolled her eyes. He wasn't wrong.

"What if I told you," she measured her words carefully, but knowing Sun, she thought it best to just get straight to the point, "that I saw the woman in my vision here on campus?"

There was quiet then the widening of his blue eyes, followed by an excited rumble from his throat. Blake prepared herself for the onslaught of questions and the answers she would have to give him. She **had** decided to tell him. It wouldn't be wise to hold back now. Besides, she knew he would wouldn't stop asking her if she did.

"I first saw her two months ago, outside my department building." she raised a finger to stop him from interrupting her, "I didn't speak to her until last week. She and her sister shared their umbrella with me because **somebody** forgot to pick me up."

 _Hey, you're getting a little wet there. Move in a little bit._

"Is her sister, by any chance, a redhead with green eyes and cute doe ears?" Sun asked quickly at the lull of her spiel.

"There was something else I didn't tell you four years ago because I was scared of what you'd think." she sighed, her eyes drifting to the freshly mowed grass by her feet.

"Ugh... Blake, need I remind you that I don't think any less of you because you're gay?"

"I am not gay!" she flashed an angry look at him, but quickly softened her expression. Who was she kidding? Nobody, but herself. "Maybe, I am, but... It's a lot more complicated than that."

"Seriously, Blake, you're my best friend. You have been since the day you punched me in the face. So what if you liked girls? I'd still love you even if you decided to marry a lamp post." That was true and she knew it. She remembered how he sat with her after Adam had dumped her before twelfth grade and how he said nothing at the party where she was clearly ogling that horse Faunus with the flashy pink hair.

"What I didn't tell you four years ago," she bit her lip. She was straight. She would never like girls. She was normal and she was definitely lying to herself, "is that the woman I saw was a human."

And there was the silence she had been expecting, the silence that she had been dreading. She looked at Sun and watched him try to stitch sentences together. She could hear his brain working from where she stood, but his lack of a response was louder. Now she was scared of telling him the last bit of information that would completely pull his tongue out of his mouth. But she had to.

"And she happens to be Cardin's girlfriend." she sighed again, her amber eyes falling back to the ground. She didn't have to look at him to see his jaw dropping and his eyes darting left to right. _I bet you weren't expecting that._

"Blake..." the softness in his voice beckoned her to look at him. It was rare to see Sun with a straight face and Blake was one of the lucky few who had seen it more than once, but then his mouth went wide with glee, "She is so damn hot! Dust, Blake, no wonder you started questioning your sexuality. If I were a girl, I would totally start digging girls if I knew I was gonna end up with such a gorgeous chick like her."

Blake's palm kissed her forehead with a loud smack, "Sun, I told you she's Cardin's girlfriend."

"And Cardin's an asshole." He said defiantly, folding his arms across his chest as if that was the only argument needed.

"Well, what if she's an asshole too?" Blake shot back.

"Is she?"

Sun had this smug expression on his face when Blake didn't answer him right away. She wanted to wipe it off of his face right now. Yang wasn't mean, as far as Blake knew. Not last week when she had pulled her closer to keep her from getting wet, not even in her vision four years ago. She was very kind and gentle and thoughtful and oh so charming and sweet.

 _Bye, Blake._ Honey and sunrises.

She sighed, "She was very nice to me."

Sun knew what she was thinking. Cardin Winchester, the proud anti-Faunus human who made it his life's mission to ridicule and hurt them.

"I'm gonna guess that she doesn't know about Cardin's hobbies." Sun said softly, "I mean, he hasn't been around to pull my tail since they started going out. It could also be that she's got him on a leash or asked him to stop."

"Maybe."

"So, did you wanna talk to me to hatch a plan to steal her from right under his fat nose?" she winced when he drove his fists into his hips and pushed his chest out. It probably didn't hurt as much as it looked.

"No," she said flatly, adopting the straight face she had mastered over the years, "I just wanted to talk."

"Well, it's better than nothing." there's that million-lien smile again, "At least I finally got you to come out."

He snickered as she playfully swatted his bicep. She knew it wouldn't hurt considering his size. Years of working out, she thought. Vacuo had been cruel to him in his childhood and she knew he wanted to be able to defend himself. Sun trained his body to take hits while she mastered the art of running and sneaking away. She was her very own ninja of love.

She thought about Sun's words the whole day. Cardin had been absent from their lives ever since Yang. She must have convinced him to stop or maybe Cardin had finally turned a new leaf entirely. New semester, new me and all that jazz. Either way, the Faunus of Beacon University were safe and free to go their merry ways, able to roam around without constantly looking over their shoulders.

It was a nice feeling, walking without a care in the world to Professor Peach's class. Sun had gone back to Neptune, Sage and Neon after their talk. She did feel a lot better, but there was still the lingering ache of sadness and longing. She should be grateful that Yang saved them from Cardin, but she couldn't help wanting more, wanting Yang.

The whole day went by in a flash and she had found herself waiting for her last class to be over. There was this big basketball game in the school gymnasium that Sun had invited her to. She didn't really like basketball games, but a chance to hang out with Sun was something she didn't want to pass up especially since he had been spending more time with his new friends as of late. She could just sit in the back and enjoy the comfort of having people around. Besides, Velvet said she was going to be there and Blake couldn't remember when she and the rabbit Faunus had spent time together.

That three-hour lecture was boring and if Blake's thoughts weren't trying to snuff the living daylights out of her, she would have fallen asleep in the first twenty minutes. Professor Peach's voice was so soft that any change in note sounded like a lullaby.

Her pace was slow as she made for the exit, checking her Scroll for a message or a call that didn't arrive. Sun knew she was going to be at the gymnasium and he trusted her to show up after blowing off the party last Saturday.

The campus looked almost deserted. No, the campus **was** deserted. Her classmates had run off to the gymnasium to catch the rest of the game that she wasn't too eager to see. In the blink of an eye, she was all alone, walking along the gravel pathway behind Bailey Hall. Most students didn't like taking this route since it looked completely cut off from the rest of the campus, but this was one of the safest passages she had taken to avoid Cardin in the past. Old habits die hard.

Cardin was nowhere to be seen. He hasn't shown himself to any of them in the two months of this semester. She thought about asking someone of his whereabouts, just to find out if he was even still enrolled at the University, but she realized that she had no one to ask.

 _Yang would know._

No. She was not going to ask Yang, if she would ever see her again. She was going to enjoy Cardin's absence. She was content that Cardin was nowhere to be seen.

Cardin was sitting on a bench by the gravel pathway, alone and talking on his Scroll. The expression on his face was something she had never seen before. He looked at peace, happy even. Blake had never seen him in this light. He was actually a handsome man, piercing blue eyes, cropped chestnut hair that made his chiseled jaw stand out.

 _No wonder Yang was dating him._

They looked perfect together that it was really, really outrageous. It was as if all of her romance novels had been written with them in mind: the beautiful blonde woman and the picture of manly perfection known as Cardin.

She debated whether she should continue down this path or to turn back around and find another way to the gymnasium, but Cardin had seen her and was now muttering something on his Scroll that only her Faunus ears could catch, "I'll wait for you here, babe."

 _Babe. That must have been Yang._

The tightening in her chest distracted her and the sinister smile on Cardin's lips rooted her to the spot. The moment he had stood too close to her, all she could think about was how Yang had kissed his lips, how the sunrise in her eyes had looked upon him so lovingly. It was too late, Cardin had grabbed her bicep.

"Hey there, you little shit." his grip was strong and she could feel her skin crawl underneath her blue cardigan. Blake heard the fabric on her right shoulder rip when she tried to take a step back, "Did you miss me?"

He yanked harder, pulling her close so his other hand could latch onto her left forearm. Blake could feel it growing numb. That was going to leave a mark and the only thing she could think of now was how she was going to hide it from her parents.

"I bet you little beasts have been running around with your fleas and diseases while I was away." his breath was hot against her temple. She tried to push him away, but he was too strong. "I must say that I missed you too. I thought you'd have all run back to the holes you popped out of, but here you are. Heh. You're even pretty cute too... for a filthy animal. That's a real fucking shame."

Another feeble attempt to break free, but he was unyielding. Her legs were weak from his weight, twisting around each other. If he would kick her feet, she would surely fall backwards. Once more, she tried to push him away, but in her current state, she only managed to nudge him two inches back.

Angry, he clenched his fist over her left ear, the feline one on her head, "Don't fight back or else I'll report you and have your dirty ass sent to the zoo."

Her world came tumbling down around her. That was why they never fought back, she bitterly thought. If Cardin were to take this up to the school administration, he would spin the tale and have her blamed. Lay a hand on a human and he will take away everything she had, everything her parents had worked hard for, her education, her friends. Her freedom.

She remembered all of the headlines on the news she had seen back in Menagerie. A Faunus was sentenced to life in jail for fighting back when a human had struck his daughter. The humans had all claimed he had gone feral and attacked the innocent human for no reason. No one believed his testimony of defending his child. He had gone feral, wild, like an animal and like an animal, he was caged.

She was nauseous. Cardin was right. One word from him and she would surely meet the same fate.

But that wouldn't be such a bad thing. This. This was worse. Living in constant fear, hiding from him for the past two years. This was the cruelest prison she could ever imagine. She thought about all of those Faunus who had died in their fight for equality, thought about the pain they must have gone through to set them on their path of destruction ― their path of _freedom._

 _Die free or live in cages._

Those were the words that were spray-painted in front of the Mistral Supreme Court after the Faunus was sent to jail. He was only trying to protect his child. Blake thought that he could have just picked up his daughter and walked away.

But he would only let his daughter live in fear for the rest of her life, to think that she was born to be kicked around, that she was inferior, that she mattered less than any human.

Blake thought of what she would do if she had been in that man's shoes. She kind of was, at the moment. She was staring at the hateful eyes of a violent human, hurting her. She had to fight back. Damn expulsion, damn living in fear. She wanted to be free. She wanted to be free of Cardin. She had already been beating herself up over him for the past two years. She didn't need him to do that for her. Not anymore.

She was tired of being pushed around, tired of creeping in isolated pathways. She had to defend herself somehow. She had to push back.

He fell backwards, flat on his back. Her ear was sore and her skull was on fire when his hand fell away. His head shot up, fury blazing in his blue eyes and his chestnut hair in disarray. His gaze was burning into her, but Blake stood tall.

"Leave me alone." her voice was strong, loud even, her fingers in tight fists and her lips quivering from fear. No, this was rage. And fear ― fear was smeared across Cardin's face before it melted back to pure malice.

Cardin stood up to his full height, towering over Blake. For a second, her fear had returned, squeezing every last semblance of courage she had had, but she pushed it back the same way she pushed her tormentor ― this monster ― away from her. Whatever happens now, she'll gladly accept it.

She didn't want to feel pathetic anymore, didn't want to run. She had had enough. She was a Faunus. She was a person who had every right to be here as any other human. She was Blake Belladonna.

And she mattered.

"I'm going to wring your neck," Cardin pumped his fist into his palm, teeth bared, "I'm going to fucking skin you alive and mount your head on my wall, you little shit."

His whole right arm rose above his head, his other hand digging into Blake's arm to keep her from blocking his blow. She could only close her eyes now. She was exhausted. This would hurt less if she didn't see it coming.

"What the hell, Cardin?" there was uninhibited terror in that voice, but there was no mistaking the sweet hint of honey there, "What do you think you're doing?"

Her skin was burning when Cardin's fatal grip had been forcefully ripped from her arm, pain slowly settling into her numb flesh. That was going to leave a mark too. Eyes shut tight and arms too weak and worn to move, Blake could only listen and smell the fruity scent that hung in the air. Another hand had found its way to the ripped sleeve of her cardigan, but the warmth soothed her.

 _Yang._

Blake opened her eyes and looked at the golden head of messy hair standing before her. It was exactly like watching the night sky kiss the sun as it rose over the horizon.

"That stupid animal pushed me." Cardin's voice rose.

"Come on." a small voice said behind Blake. She turned around and saw Ruby carefully placing a hand on hers.

The two girls looked over Yang's shoulder, past her golden hair, at Cardin. He raised his arm, about to grab hold of his prey, of her, but Ruby was quick to pull her away and Yang had pushed him back, as hard as she could, sending him tumbling to the ground once more.

"Wow!" he sneered, standing back up and staring Yang down, "My own girlfriend's a fucking Faunus lover. Babe, are you motherfucking nuts? Get out of my fucking way."

"Back off, asshole." Yang retorted when Cardin had roughly pulled her aside, his fingers boring into the flesh of her right arm.

"That flea-ridden animal trash hit me, you stupid bitch." he said, his arm poised for another punch, "And you're actually defending that thing? I'm gonna have to knock some sense into your stupid motherfucking face."

Cardin's fist landed right on Yang's mouth, the blow splitting her lower lip open. She staggered back, forcing her legs to keep her whole body up. Cardin just looked at her, his eyes devoid of remorse or reason. Ruby gasped, both her small hands clamped over Blake's. She couldn't move, staring at how the blonde brushed the bloodstained strands of hair from her face.

"Now look what you made me do!" Cardin shouted again.

Yang wiped the blood from her lip with her thumb, taking a quick look at Blake and Ruby who helplessly watched the whole thing before locking her lilac eyes at Cardin. He took one step forward, his arm ready for another blow, but Yang was quick.

She ducked when Cardin threw a punch at her head and her fist drove into his stomach. In her crouched position, she deftly twisted her body so that she was facing away from him, raising her right leg to her chest before successfully pulling off a back kick. Cardin keeled over with a loud thud and groaned, unable to move and gasping for air.

"We're through." Yang huffed, walking over to where Ruby and Blake had been standing.

Blake watched as Cardin squirmed, hugging his stomach and knees to his chest. He looked like a turtle, flat on its shell. The three young women retreated towards Bailey Hall where several students had emerged from their classrooms, unaware of everything that had occurred a few moments ago.

How did they not hear Cardin shouting his head off? They didn't even look at the three girls. Blake felt like screaming, but her rising temper dissipated when she felt a hand over the torn sleeve on her right shoulder and another hand buried into her long black hair, just an inch away from the base of her feline ears.

"Are you okay?" Yang's voice was soft, placing herself in front of Blake, "Do your ears hurt?"

Blake was back in the kitchen with the beige couch, orange pillows, the coffee brewing in the air and staring into a pair of lilac eyes that radiated concern. All she could do was shiver.

"Blake?" this time, Ruby spoke, placing a hand on her left forearm, below her sore bicep.

"I'm fine." Blake sighed, her hands finding their way over Yang's shoulders to hold herself up, to keep her from slipping away this time.

"You sure?" Blake looked up again, at the sunrise in front of her, remembering ― no, seeing how streaks of lilac darkened to the ends of her irises. This felt exactly like that vision, yet it was completely foreign. This wasn't the kitchen island. They were standing in front of Bailey Hall, an oblivious audience around them, Ruby holding her and Yang's lip bleeding.

"Yang, your lip." Blake thoughtfully cupped Yang's jaw, running her thumb below the open wound. She had said her name, been wanting to say it out loud and she liked it. She wanted to say it again.

"What?" Yang shook her head and tried to smile, "No, it's nothing."

"Blake?" All three women looked at the rabbit Faunus that was running towards them. Velvet was completely horrified, her hand over her mouth, "What happened? Are you okay? Yang, you're hurt!"

Blake blinked. She was still shaking from what had just happened, holding onto Yang before her knees would give up on her. Tentatively, she stole another look at Yang, her hand falling on the blonde's neck as her lilac gaze were focused on Velvet. How did they know each other?

"Cardin was―" Yang said, but Velvet cut her off.

"Cardin attacked you again?" Velvet was now standing beside Yang, ignoring the blonde as she pulled a hesitant Blake into her arms.

"Again?" Yang was confused. Did she not know? How could she not know? Didn't she ask Cardin to stay away from the Faunus?

"This has happened before?" Ruby stood beside her sister, her hand gripped the blonde's gray jacket.

"Yes." Velvet said harshly, directing Blake away from the sisters, "I thought you'd know since he's your boyfriend."

"Ex-boyfriend." Yang corrected.

Velvet disregarded her and looked at Blake, "I'll take you home."

Blake gave the two sisters one final look before she and Velvet walked away from them. Yang and Ruby were focused on her, both of their eyes brimming with concern and something else that she couldn't quite place. They had already been twenty feet away when Blake heard Yang's voice once more, "We need to see Uncle Qrow."

She didn't even get the chance to thank them.


	6. The Long Walk

Eyes open, wide awake and aching.

Blake awoke the next day, her alarm clock blaring. If it hadn't been for the sudden pain on her arms, she would have forgotten everything that had happened yesterday. Cardin had grabbed her, he had squished her ear and Yang came to her rescue. For that, Cardin had punched her, split her lip. Her savior with her golden hair stained red with blood and betrayal.

Bleak thoughts for a bleak day.

It was a cold day too, so wearing a purple sweater underneath her black jacket wasn't all too suspicious. Her parents hadn't noticed. To them, it was just another day at work, another day for their daughter to sit in all of her classes, talk with all her friends and come home. What they didn't notice was the fear that festered underneath her skin as she stepped into Beacon University.

She kept her head down, afraid that if she dared to look at the faces of her fellow students, she would see contempt. She was a Faunus who had attacked a human within these walls. Never mind that she had done it to protect herself. She fought back. They may be talking about what they would do after class, or about how Beacon lost the game yesterday, but to Blake, it was a silent condemnation that was standing just outside of her classroom, waiting for her arrival.

"Ms. Belladonna." Vice President Glynda Goodwitch had her light blonde hair in a bun, wearing a white blouse, a black pencil skirt over the black pantyhose that ran down to her black high heels.

"Ma'am, I―" Goodwitch raised a finger.

"Your professors have been notified. If you would kindly follow me to the president's office, Dr. Ozpin would like to have a word with you."

The trip to the president's office was silent with a hint of trepidation and mental cussing on Blake's part. She wanted to run away, to run back home and hide underneath her sheets. But the innocent never run, she thought, so she had to stay calm. She **was** innocent and she had to at least try to tell someone that.

Blake found herself alone in the president's spacious office, seated on one of the dark gray club chairs on the opposite side of his circular glass desk. Beyond that was a big window in the middle of two tall bookcases filled with books that should have piqued her interest in a less grim situation. But her fear glued her to her seat, waiting for the consequence of yesterday's act of defiance.

The sound of the door clicking made her jump out of her seat, she stood to greet a tall man in a dark suit and a green scarf around his neck. The president, Dr. Ozpin, was holding a steaming cup of coffee in his left hand and a walking cane in his right. His hair was an unkempt mass of gray that reflected his old age, but was contradictory to his youthful face. He motioned for her to sit while he placed himself on the black chair with the table in between them.

"Am... Am I in trouble, sir?" she started, eyes on her lap and her ears flat on her head for fear that he would berate her.

"No, of course not." he said in a calm tone, apologetic even. When she looked at him, she saw comfort in his warm smile, "I just wanted to speak with you personally about the events that happened yesterday."

Blake's eyes met her lap again.

"I have received a report detailing a quarrel within school grounds in which you, Mr. Winchester and Ms. Xiao Long were involved in."

 _Ms. Xiao Long? Did he mean Yang?_

"Ms. Belladonna..." Dr. Ozpin continued, "Blake, what happened yesterday?"

Blake told him everything that had happened yesterday, how she was headed to the basketball game, how Cardin had grabbed her, pulled her ear and how Yang had swooped in and got herself hit in the process of saving Blake. She also told him of all the other times Cardin and his friends had harassed them: the very first day at Beacon, how they pulled Sun's and Neon's tails, how Cardin pulled both of Velvet's ears. She told him everything. She was about to lose everything now, but that didn't mean Cardin shouldn't go down without a fight.

Dr. Ozpin had apologized on behalf of Beacon University and promised to be more wary of the treatment of his Faunus students going so far as to inform all of their parents, much to Blake's chagrin, and to establish a new administration that their race may never fear a biased judgment from the school again to be headed by a Faunus named Tukson, the first Faunus staff member of the institution.

"It's been a long time coming." Dr. Ozpin said, "We should have taken much larger strides to lessen the divide. We will be conducting an interview with the students that you have mentioned today. I believe that Ms. Scarlatina is speaking with Professor Branwen outside. Would you kindly send her in?"

"Wait." Blake's breath hitched, there was still one thing, "What about Cardin?"

"Mr. Winchester has been suspended and barred entry into the University until the end of this investigation." Dr. Ozpin said, drinking what was left of his now cold coffee, "After what you have reported to me though, it seems very clear that he may face expulsion. He should take responsibility for **all** of the things he's done, don't you think?"

"Yes." she almost whispered, "What happens to me now?"

"You, Ms. Belladonna, are going to have to go home for today. Your father was not too happy after our call to him."

The lump on her throat was hard to swallow, but she managed it as she bid the president goodbye and exited the room. She was greeted by the sound of sandpaper and honey. She turned to look at three figures standing a few feet from the door, talking in hushed, but heated tones. Velvet and Yang had their backs turned to her while they spoke to a man with hair as black as hers, red eyes and a five o'clock shadow at 10:30 in the morning.

"Your dad's not happy about this, firecracker." he said, rolling up the sleeves of his white shirt, "When are you gonna stop getting mixed up in all sorts of trouble?"

"Give me a break, Uncle Qrow!" Yang huffed, "He punched me in the face first. It's called self-defense."

"It's Professor Branwen in school, kid. And I was talking about you dating that sorry piece of trash."

"Well, I didn't... really know..." her golden hair swayed to the side, turning to Velvet beside her, "I'm really sorry, Velvet."

"It's not your fault, Yang." Velvet sighed, "Coco never really―"

"Well, she's finally out!" Professor Branwen called out when he saw Blake.

Yang and Velvet turned to look at her as well; Velvet with this half-smile on her face and concern in her brown eyes and Yang with her lopsided smile and the same nameless twinkle in her lilac pair. Without the fear and in this distance, Blake had now recognized it as guilt. Blake couldn't look at Yang. Her lip stopped bleeding, but it still looked a little swollen. She turned to Velvet instead.

"Dr. Ozpin wants to see you now." Blake whispered, amber eyes to the floor. She knew Velvet could hear her. If there was anyone who could hear much better and much farther than Blake it was Velvet.

"We'll talk more next time, okay?" Velvet addressed Yang, "Again, I'm sorry about yesterday and thank you."

"No prob, Bob." Yang winked and smiled, attempted to at least, any minute stretching of her lip would open the wound there.

Blake felt Velvet's hand on her shoulder as the rabbit Faunus passed her before she entered Dr. Ozpin's office. She was now alone with Yang and her uncle, both of them staring at her, waiting for her to say something. She definitely needed to say something, especially to the blonde woman whose black boots came into view. She expected to hear thick, sweet honey, but had gotten a slight clap on the shoulder and heard Professor Branwen instead.

"So you're the girl that got my niece decked in the face. It's nice to finally meet'cha."

"Branwen." Vice President Goodwitch walked towards them with a nervous Sun hot on her heels, "Stop scaring the poor girl and get back to work."

Blake looked at Sun. The school really was going to interview all of them now. He appeared to be extremely tense, probably thinking that he was going to get in trouble too.

"Blake..." Sun began, his mouth left open the moment his blue eyes landed on the head of blonde hair standing right behind Blake. His lips threatened to form a smile and his eyes were moving back and forth between his friend and the woman she had been dreaming of for the past four years, "Never mind."

The staring went on for a half a minute and it didn't go unnoticed by all that were present. Sun let out a weak squeal that was almost inaudible to the human ear. Almost inaudible. Blake could feel the heat rising to her cheeks, Goodwitch cleared her throat, Yang hummed and Professor Branwen groaned.

"Don't get any ideas, Wukong." Professor Branwen stood in front of Sun, blocking his view, "That's my niece."

Thanks to Blake's hearing, she heard the monkey Faunus squeak. He was led through a door beside the president's office where Goodwitch and Professor Branwen followed, closing the door behind them and left Blake alone with her fate.

"So," Yang said aloud. Blake hesitantly turned to the source of the fruity scent in the air, "how you doing? Ozpin didn't give you a hard time, did he?"

"No, he didn't." Blake bit her lip and forced herself to look up at Yang. She was wearing the black and yellow bomber jacket with the hexagon-bee patch, a yellow scarf dangling from a pocket and a light pink top underneath it. Her amber eyes took a second too long around the blonde's cleavage, so she had to skip past the pink lips with the red wound and the rosy cheeks to look directly into her eyes. What should she say next?

 _Thank you for kicking your boyfriend for me, do you want to have dinner with me sometime?_

"You got sent home too, huh?" Yang interrupted her, taking another step closer into the dangerous territory known as Blake's undecided attraction towards her.

"Yes." she responded with a matching nod, "Dr. Ozpin said my parents would want to talk to me."

"I'm sorry about Cardin." the sunrise in her eyes seemed to fade into a rainy morning now. Guilt. "I mean, I didn't know. I should have, but... I'm really sorry."

"No, we should've done something about this a long, long time ago anyway. We just weren't sure what would happen if we did because nobody seemed to care. We thought it was just normal."

"First of all," Yang cocked her head, golden locks tumbling out of place, "I care. Second, this is not normal. Beacon's not a prehistoric, anti-Faunus school. Sure, some kids here are useless idiots, but there are good people here too."

 _Like you?_

"Like my Uncle Qrow just now." Yang added, moving closer towards her, "He's a professor here, in the Nutrition and Diet-something department."

"Dietetics." Blake corrected, holding back the smile that was tugging at her lips. She had never seen someone shrug so adorably. _Help me._

"Yeah, that. So, anyway, my sister and I went to his place yesterday and we got to talking about everything. Not just yesterday everything, but **everything** about..." Yang winced, "Cardin. Uncle Qrow's usually a cool guy but the lip thing didn't help so he kinda went berserk and called Ozpin."

Blake laughed, she forgot all about the next round of interrogation she was going to get at home, forgot about the slight pain that still lingered under her sleeves. Everything was going to be okay now. Cardin was no longer going to be a problem for her or for anyone at all.

And Yang was here.

Blake would have stayed in this moment a little bit longer had her father not called her Scroll, informing her that he was on his way home and that she should be as well. She wasn't sure if he was mad, but definitely very worried.

"I have to go." she turned back to Yang who had respectfully moved away to give her some privacy.

"Want me to walk you home?" Yang tried to smile again.

 _Yes._

"Don't you have classes?" Blake asked.

"I do," the blonde unconsciously, but conspicuously tugged her hair, "but I got suspended so I have to leave campus."

"You were suspended?" Blake's voice rose and her amber eyes could rival the size of the sun at this point.

"Well, I kinda hit Cardin a little too hard. Twice. So, he kinda can't breathe well and he kept repeating something about a ruptured liver to Ozpin when they talked. So, I got suspended."

"You're not going to be expelled too, are you?"

"What? Me? No. It's just, with the investigation still happening, I have to not be here. Uncle Qrow and I tried to fight it, but Ozpin says it's protocol or something, said it was only fair."

 _Fair is foul._

"It's not that bad, really." Yang attempted a smile again. Blake smiled for them both instead, "Come on, let's go before Ozpin calls security."

Yang led the way out of the building, unfazed by the cold gust of wind that had slapped Blake from staring at the blonde's seductively swaying hips. They silently passed the main entrance and began their walk towards Blake's home.

She had warned the blonde that it was a twenty-minute walk, but Yang didn't seem to mind. Admittedly, Blake didn't either. The thought of spending the next twenty minutes with the girl from her vision made her forget all about the horrors that were painted on her arm.

"Thank you," Blake suddenly remembered that she had not said that to her rescuer, "for yesterday and I'm sorry about Cardin."

Yang scoffed, "Don't be sorry about him. I should've known he was a douche bag when I met him."

"How did you and him happen anyway?" Blake wanted to kick her own masochistic ass, but she was curious. What **did** Yang see in him and how did she not know he was a bully? "If you don't mind me asking."

"We met in a club." she laughed, shoving her hands into her pockets and noticing the scarf dangling from one, "Around two months ago, before the semester started. He bought me a drink and we talked. Don't believe Ruby when she says I'm always drunk on weekends. I'm barely out of the apartment because of all the crazy school work and my friends are the same so... It happened. You may not believe it, but he seemed really nice then. Sweet, too."

"I can't imagine Cardin being nice and sweet." She couldn't. Not in a million years.

There was even honey in her laughter, "You know, looking back, I think I just felt lonely. That's what isolation does to you. Haven't you ever dated someone you thought was nice and sweet, but they turned out to be a dick?"

She did. Adam. "I have."

"Oooh." Yang moved closer, her warmth spreading across Blake's arm, "Do tell."

"I dated this guy in high school. I thought it was meant to be, but he turned out to be a dick too."

"What'd he do?" Yang hummed, their shoulders briefly touching. Blake looked at her, reluctant to divulge the details of her relationship with Adam. "Come on, tell me. This is what friends do, talk about their crappy exes."

 _Friends? I guess I have to start somewhere._

"Well, whenever I did something he didn't like, he'd threaten to break up with me. You know, guilt trip? Conditioning someone that they couldn't live without them. In the end we broke up."

 _He dumped me, but you don't need to know that._

"His loss."

Blake stopped in her tracks. Was that a compliment? Yang had said it so nonchalantly, as if it were the most common thing to say. It made her heart race, her face flush. Where was the wind when you needed it?

Yang stopped two steps ahead of her, turning around with half a smile on her rosy face. "You've definitely moved on to that hot guy with the tail earlier."

What. The. Actual. Dust.

"Sun?" Blake laughed nervously, her face still red from what she thought was a compliment, "No, we're just friends."

The wounded lips on Yang's face curled into a mischievous smile, disbelief in her squinting eyes. This was not the first time that she and Sun were mistaken for a couple and this definitely might not be the last. The wind blew again, only two minutes too late, but it sent a shiver down Blake's spine. Yang moved closer now, pulling the scarf out of her pocket.

"Right." she drawled as long as she could, casually draping the yellow fabric ― her scarf ― around Blake's neck. "Don't worry, he's all yours. If you want, I can help you two together."

Blake felt the world tremble when Yang winked at her. She could smell the other girl's shampoo now, but the scent that had pervaded into her nostrils, the fruity scent, reminded her so much of a certain fruit, like freshly sliced apples. In a panic, she said, "I'm not into that."

"So," Yang was now standing beside her, lilac eyes narrowed at something in the distance, "you're into girls then?"

"No!" Blake said a little too loudly and a little too quickly, "I'm not... _comfortable_ with that."

Yang very, very slowly turned her eyes towards her, trying to piece a sentence together, "You don't like gay people." It was more a declarative sentence than a question. It sounded accusatory even.

"N-no." Blake wanted the world to shatter at this very moment. Word vomit. "I mean, I'm not saying I don't like them. I... I don't know. I just really don't know. How do you even know if you're gay?"

She was genuinely curious. Would she have even started questioning her sexuality if she hadn't seen Yang in her vision four years ago? Would Yang be anything other than Cardin's girlfriend if she had not seen they would be together in the future that seemed all too implausible now? How would you really know that you were gay?

Yang raised an eyebrow at her in the most breathtaking way Blake had ever seen, "It's never about being straight or gay. It's about love. If you love someone, you love them for everything that they are. Nothing more, nothing less. At least that's what I think."

"I just really don't know, okay?"

"Let's just change the subject then."

Yang tried to smile again and Blake wasn't sure if that failed attempt was due to the pain on her lip or that it meant the end of their conversation. The two of them continued their walk in agonizing silence. What could Yang be thinking of right now?

"Aren't you cold?" Blake broke the silence, her eyes briefly travelling over the blonde's bare neck and up to her curious gaze. There was no irritation there.

"Nope. I don't get cold easily. I just bring that along for Ruby sometimes."

Blake wrapped the scarf tighter, to try and cover her eternally blushing face. She imagined the yellow scarf wrapped around Ruby's neck. Then she remembered that Dr. Ozpin had failed to mention Ruby during their interview. He mentioned a Ms. Rose providing a witness testimony, but she had never heard of anyone with the last name Rose before.

"Yang?" Blake could feel her head about to explode as the blonde turned to face her, the warmth of her breath brushed against Blake's cheek, "Dr. Ozpin mentioned a witness named Ms. Rose earlier and I was wondering if you knew who that was."

"Oh, that's Ruby." she laughed again. Does this woman never tire of laughing? Not that Blake would complain. It sounded nice, sweet, "I know what you're thinking. Ruby and I aren't really sisters. We have different moms. I got our dad's last name and Ruby got mom's. Her mom's, if we're being specific. Ruby Xiao Long doesn't really roll off the tongue."

"I hope you don't mind me asking," Blake started after a minute of silence, "but what about your mom?"

Yang's laughter died and her smile faded for the second time. Blake wanted to rip her own tongue out, chastising herself for finding new ways to make this conversation with Yang more and more awkward. Whatever happened was obviously not good, of course.

"She bailed on me and dad." Yang pushed her hands further into her pockets, the shape of her breasts clear on the black of her jacket, "I didn't even know about her until after Ruby's mom died."

Blake wanted to throw herself headfirst into an incoming car, but Yang's weak smile held her down. A kind gift for her bad choice of words in the last five minutes. At least Yang was still talking to her.

"Don't feel bad, Blakey." Yang continued, trying to reassure Blake and put out the flames of discomfort that singed them both. A memorized response from years of practice, "It happened a long, long time ago. The first few months were total shit, but we're all over it now."

"Still," Blake now registered the nickname Yang had given her. _Blakey_ was not something she wanted to be called. Sun had called her that once and she ignored him for a week, but when the name was dripping in honey, she let it go, liked it even, "I'm sorry."

"It's cool. Dad says it's good to talk about it sometimes."

How exactly do you sign off of a conversation like this that wouldn't come off as rude or uncaring? Would a hug suffice? Blake wasn't a big fan of hugging and she was scared that Yang would think she was being a creep. Holding her hand was out of the question since they were deep in her pockets.

"If you ever wanna talk..." Blake began, cautiously stealing a peek at Yang, "I'm here."

It wasn't a lie. She wanted to listen, to know more about her. Yang did mention she felt lonely and that they were friends now, so Blake wanted to at least let her know that she was someone who wanted to be in her life. Yang had only smiled at her, but there was sadness in her eyes; a sadness she had never imagined would be spread across the sunrise.

They both turned a corner, nearing Blake's house. Immediately, Blake looked through her bag for the lone key to their front door, expecting to have a few more minutes alone before either or both of her parents would come in to talk to her. It didn't help that she was nervous and that she had never thought of getting a keychain for the damn small thing.

When she turned to Yang, the cold key finally in her grasp, she found that the blonde had been looking at her, an amused expression on her beautiful face, "You don't have a keychain?"

"No." Blake smiled nervously, her eyes latched onto the sunrise back in Yang's eyes. She could stare at them for hours, imagining the sand in between her toes, the soft waves crashing in the distance. How she missed the warm beaches of Menagerie. "I keep―"

"Blake!" Ghira Belladonna had just slipped out of his car when he saw his daughter walking two houses away with a human by her side. Upon closer inspection, this stranger had a cut on her lip, "Get inside now."

"Dad!" her heart remembered to attempt an escape again while her legs forgot how to function.

"You." her father had now moved closer, his cold amber eyes boring into Yang, "You better run along, _human_."

"Dad, don't be―"

"It's okay." Yang's voice was shaking now, slowly backing away from the hulking man known as Blake's father, "I have to go home anyway. Bye."

Yang said the final word as fast as she had turned around and walked the other way, never looking back at them. Blake glared at her father, but shrank when she saw the anger in his eyes. Wordlessly, she proceeded to the front door, waiting for her father to follow her instead of Yang.

"Your mother's on her way." Ghira said, leading his daughter through the door and closing it behind them, "You have a lot of explaining to do."

It was a long night of questions and explanations. Her father had only threatened to move them all back to Menagerie twice, much less than she expected, but she had managed to convince them to stay. She couldn't convince her parents not to go speak with Dr. Ozpin himself the following morning. She was just grateful that she had managed to calm her parents down and that her father wanted her to apologize to Yang for him.

She went up to her room after all of that and noticed that she had forgotten to give back Yang's scarf that was still around her neck and definitely smelled like apples.


	7. Friends With Pizza

"You told her you don't like gay people?" Sun Wukong, monkey tail taut behind him, announced as loudly as he could, ignoring the curious looks the passersby were giving him, "What in all of blessed Remnant were you thinking?"

Blake did not want to spend her Saturday being reprimanded by Sun. Of course, she would tell him all about her little walk with the blonde with _"tits for days"_ , and of course, he would only register the fact that Blake had accidentally kind of told her that she did not like gay people.

"You told me you were gay a few days ago." Sun draped his arm over her shoulder, knowing that she would immediately push it aside.

"I said maybe." she hissed, quickening her pace to avoid discussing this further, "And I told her that I didn't know."

Sunny, Saturdays in the city of Vale were always crowded, with humans and Faunus alike rushing to get their weekends well underway, whatever their plans were. Sun and Blake had promised to spend their afternoon with Velvet, Neon and whoever they were going to bring along at the usual pizza place: Leelu's Pizza Dome.

That's why when Sun had knocked on the door of the Belladonna residence at noon, Blake quickly changed into something warm and dragged him out of the house before he could eat all of their lunch and the entire week's groceries.

She had been moping all week, unable to return the yellow scarf that Yang had let her borrow the other day and unable to apologize for the way her father reacted towards her. Blake had tried to find Ruby, but the young girl was nowhere to be seen and knowing absolutely nothing about Yang's social circle crushed Blake's resolve.

"That's like saying you would never like her." Sun said, his hands on his head and his tail inches away from Blake's shoulder, "And you told me you liked her. You are _confusing_ me."

 _Welcome to the club._

"I do like her," she whispered, her ears flat on her head, her amber eyes focused on her steps, "but that doesn't mean I'm gay!"

 _Does it?_

"Dust, this again. Alright, I'm gonna go ahead and declare a new sexual orientation called Yang-sexual, population: you." he laughed as he pressed the tip of his tail against Blake's cheek, which she promptly swatted away.

"Hey, **you** said she was so damn hot." she tried her best to imitate Sun's speech pattern, "Besides, she thinks you're hot too."

Sun stood in front of her, keeping her from walking any further, blue eyes staring straight into the amber windows of her soul, "She does?"

"Yes, she does." Blake glared at him for a second before casting her eyes on the pavement in between their feet, but snapped them back to his face when he roughly put his hands on her shoulders.

"I'm flattered," he said softly, giving Blake a slight shake to let his words sink in, "but you and me are best friends and I will do everything I can to get you two together."

"Funny," she smirked, pushing him aside to continue their walk. Sun followed her, matching her stride for stride. "she said the same thing about you and me."

"Don't worry, Blake." Sun beamed at her, "I have a plan."

"Of course, you do." she rolled her eyes.

"All you gotta do is woo her, make her swoon, make the gods cry, bend the universe and whatever."

Blake couldn't help but laugh, " _Woo_ her? What have you been reading?"

"Just trust me. You need to up the ante, you know, grab the bull by the horns. What happens in your romance novels, huh? I mean, what do you even read them for? They're bound to have some sort of wisdom about how to seduce a woman!"

Blake blushed. Her romance novels were **pure smut**. Porn with plot. Although the plot was strong, but sixteen pages of pure smut was the best thing about them. Never mind the loopholes and the unbelievably beautiful cast and the hundreds of grammatical errors, she read them for the glorious smut and the jackpot of a few golden sentences here and there.

 _If you don't jump, you fall_.

"Sun, she just broke up with her boyfriend!" she argued.

"Who is a total ass, by the way."

"Who could forget?" she rolled her eyes, "But it's only been a few days and she thinks I'm anti-gay―"

"Your fault."

She ignored his remark, "Let's just give it some time, okay? I swear I'll come running to you for advice on how to make the _gods cry_ when I think it's the right time."

"Alright, Blake." he said, "But we better come up with something pretty soon. Girls like her don't stay single for long."

Blake did not doubt that. Anyone can see just how stunning Yang Xiao Long was; long blonde locks, smooth olive skin, pink lips, majestic lilac eyes and a voice that could melt butter, no, ice glaciers in a matter of minutes. Still, the woman's not heartless. She must need some space, a mourning period, but how long exactly would that take for someone like her? All Blake was sure of was that four days was not enough time.

The two friends walked into the stifling pizza joint known as Leelu's Pizza Dome, home of the cheesiest pizza at reasonable prices; the perfect watering hole for both humans and Faunus. They looked around, searching for familiar faces in the packed establishment, but what caught their eyes was the fluffy pair of rabbit ears that could only belong to one Velvet Scarlatina.

They squeezed their way past families, friends and a table of rowdy kids a couple of years younger than they were to get to the two tables their own companions had pushed together. Neon Katt and Sage were sitting close to each other across an orange-haired woman and the man Blake recognized as Ren. Velvet was seated to the far left, next to a pretty human woman all dolled up in a beret and designer shades. Blake thought she was blind until the woman had turned to look at her and Sun.

"Are these the friends you mentioned?" she said, tilting her shades down to reveal a pair of chocolate colored eyes the same shade as her short hair.

"Blake, Sun, you made it!" Velvet greeted them with a wide smile, cheeks tinted red.

"I had to pick up the little kitty here," Sun snuck a sideways glance at Blake then straightened his back when he saw her death glare, nervously adding, "like any good friend would do."

Blake sat down opposite of Velvet while Sun took the seat next to her and the orange-haired woman whom Velvet introduced as Nora Valkyrie, Ren's girlfriend and the stylish one next to the rabbit Faunus was Coco Adel. Blake could feel that Velvet was holding something back, but decided not to pry. She instead gave a small wave to Neon and Sage who simply nodded at her and Sun.

"You're the girl who got Cardin kicked out, right?" Coco propped an elbow on the table and rested her chin on her knuckle, "Ballsy, ain't 'cha?"

"Umm..." Blake was caught unawares by how forward this woman was. Velvet must have told her all about the run-in with Cardin last Tuesday, "No, actually, it was someone else."

"Yang reported him." Velvet interjected, placing a hand softly on the woman's arm. Blake's eyes widened at the gesture. Velvet was not a touchy person. She could feel the sparse wind in the room sting her eyes when Coco had moved her head really close to Velvet's face.

"I knew that guy was bad news. It's really suspicious how he never wanted to meet his girlfriend's friends. She should've dumped him when I told her to."

"If I ever see his face again," Nora started, her hands slammed onto the table and shook their drinks, "I swear I'm gonna break his legs."

"His dad sent him to Mistral." Ren said coolly, pulling Nora's hands off of the table, "Mr. Xiao Long and Professor Branwen insisted on filing a lawsuit against him, but the Winchesters offered to ship him out of the country instead. Plea bargain and all that."

Mistral was far away and had far less Faunus there, but Blake couldn't help but wonder if he was going to do it again, find new Faunus to torment and hurt. For now, she was just glad that she would never have to see him again.

And Yang was single.

"That means Yang's single." Sage said, his light brown eyes trained on Sun, but Blake looked at him as well, "Didn't you say she was hot?"

Blake did her best not to skin the monkey Faunus next to her with how sharp her glare was. She could see beads of sweat forming around his temples and neck and heard him gasp. She held her breath as she waited for his reply.

"No, thanks." Sun said nervously, afraid to look at Blake, "I'm not really into blondes. I'm more into redheads."

Nora and Neon grabbed a few strands of their hair at the same time, probably making sure they didn't fit into Sun's hair preference. Neon's pink hair looked almost red and Nora was a ginger, but was sometimes classified as a redhead.

"Well, Pyrrha's a redhead." Velvet offered to break the awkward silence.

"But she's with Jaune." Nora teased, a condescending note in the way she had said the name.

"Jaune's an okay guy." Ren argued.

Blake had no idea who this Jaune fellow was and was not in the least bit interested to listen to Nora and Ren arguing about him. She studied all of the people in this group and realized that they all seemed to be very familiar with each other while she had just met half of them. She felt bad for missing out on all of their bonding at parties and get-togethers while she stayed home, reading Ninjas of Love 4: Treasured Love, and brooded over a certain blonde woman.

She found her thoughts drifting back to the memory of Wednesday's conversation, the half-smiles, Yang's olive skin and the scent of apples that still clung to the fabric of the yellow scarf sitting on Blake's desk at home.

The sound of Coco's Scroll ringing and two plates of pizza being lowered onto their tables interrupted Blake's thoughts. She wasn't really in the mood to have some pizza. She had just had lunch with her parents, but it felt awkward to just sit and watch while everyone else ate. One slice wouldn't hurt.

"Yeah, what's up?" Coco said into the device, "The gang's all here with some new friends... You're rarely out of the shithole you call an apartment and you'd rather not see me?... Yeah, Velvet's here... She'll be fine. We won't eat her... Yeah, yeah, yeah, see you."

"Who was that?" Neon asked after Coco put her Scroll away.

"Yang." Coco announced.

Blake felt her heart stop. That was Yang, the person she had been trying to find in the past three days. She regretted not bringing the scarf along with her, but she immediately thought it would be weird to carry it around every day. Yang would probably think she was being creepy.

"Pyrrha, Amber, Yang and her sister are stopping by." Coco continued, "Can you believe it? Yang hangs out with Pyrrha and Amber, but not me?"

"You were pretty mean to her about Cardin the other day." Ren added, giving Nora a napkin to wipe the sauce off her chin, which she ignored.

"Well, how would you feel if you found out her asshole boyfriend picked on **your** girlfriend?" Coco huffed, arms crossed.

"I said I was sorry." Velvet whispered to Coco, placing both her delicate hands on the other woman's shoulders.

Blake Belladonna had finally pieced two and two together. It has been staring her in the face all this time. What Velvet failed to mention earlier was that this woman next to her known as Coco Adel was also her girlfriend. A human and a Faunus in a relationship and they were both women.

"As if I'd let that piece of shit near me." Nora chimed, already halfway through her third slice of pizza.

The wall that divided Blake's logical thinking and imagination had been torn down. Velvet and Coco looked to be complete opposites of each other. Velvet was soft-spoken and sweet and Coco seemed brash and loud. She couldn't help but imagine herself and Yang in their place. A human and a Faunus. Women. Together.

That vision had a chance of coming true after all.

Twenty minutes later and another couple of plates of pizza ― one exclusively for Nora and Sun ― the door to Leelu's Pizza Dome opened and in came a group of laughing young women.

Pyrrha Nikos, star of Beacon University's volleyball team, was wearing a white turtleneck sweater underneath her green cardigan, a mini skirt as red as her hair with black knee-high heeled boots. Blake noticed Nora nudging Sun who sheepishly grinned at her.

Next to Pyrrha was a woman Blake could only assume was Amber, short brown hair, red flannel shirt underneath a denim jacket that went so well with her light brown complexion, white jeans and black boots. She and Pyrrha looked as if they had just walked out of a fashion magazine.

Behind them was Yang and Ruby. The blonde had a plain gray jacket over her black shirt, her arm resting over her sister's shoulders. The wound on her lip was almost fully healed now. Ruby looked smaller in an oversized brown coat, zipped all the way up to her neck, her cheeks as red as the tips of her hair.

"Glad you could make it." Coco announced to the newcomers, "What took you so long?"

"Sorry," Pyrrha said, taking a seat next to Velvet. Her voice sounded motherly, caring, like a lullaby, "I saw this cute shirt that I thought would look good on Jaune."

"Where is Jauney Boy?" Nora grinned deviously.

Sun quickly stood up when Yang and Ruby had approached them, presenting his seat to Yang before he took the spot next to Sage, far away from Blake. Ultimate wingman. Yang, instead offered the vacant seat to Ruby, who had happily plopped down next to the disappointed cat Faunus. Ren and Nora moved a seat to make way for Yang to sit next to her sister.

"He's out with one of his sisters." Pyrrha said dejectedly, her hand folded over her Scroll on the table, ready to respond if it beeped.

Blake barely noticed Amber sitting next to her, courteously smiling when the other woman had flashed her a wide toothy smile, emphasizing the beauty mark under her left eye. She could only think of one thing. Why did Yang not want to sit next to her?

"Blake," Velvet snapped her out of her thoughts, "this is Pyrrha Nikos and Amber Fall. I don't believe you guys have met. Amber, Pyrrha, this is Blake Belladonna, my friend from Menagerie."

"Hello!" Pyrrha beamed at her.

"Nice to meet you." Amber held out her hand to Blake who softly squeezed it, her voice was husky, almost similar to Blake's signature bored monotone, but more seductive. It sounded like lust. All her attention focused on her now, Blake could feel her heart racing and the wind getting knocked out of her lungs. Amber Fall was absolutely stunning.

In just a few minutes, the entire group had fallen into their usual chattering. Pyrrha and Amber were talking about Jaune. Sometimes, Amber would talk to Velvet, Coco and Yang. Neon and Sage were pretty much in their own little world while Sun, Nora and Ren ― by default ― seemed to be organizing a party. Blake finally remembered Yang's forgotten scarf and how she had been trying to get a hold of Ruby in the last few days.

"Yang," Blake said softly, a little surprised by how it sounded in her lips, "Your scarf is at my house. I'm sorry I forgot to give it back."

The whole world seemed to crawl, slowing down as Yang turned to look at her, lilac eyes sparkling with the magic that made up the entire universe. Blake swallowed the lump in her throat as silently as she could, forcing herself not to stare too long.

"Yeah..." Yang drawled, her rosy cheeks turning bright red, an awkward smile on her face "I was kinda terrified of your dad."

Ruby laughed at her sister, "What did you do?"

"Nothing!" Yang glared at her.

"I'm really sorry about my dad." Blake held back a smile, "He wanted me to apologize to you for him and introduce you next time."

Yang smiled nervously, her gaze trailing off into the unknown while Ruby continued laughing, taking a huge bite of her pizza. Blake understood how Yang felt. The first time she introduced Sun to her father, the monkey Faunus was just as terrified of him as Yang must have been that day and Ghira Belladonna was mad when she saw him.

Blake stole a look at Velvet and Coco whose faces were now inches away from each other, the rabbit Faunus' cheeks were red, smiling at whatever Coco must have said to her. Her mind automatically pictured her and a certain blonde, faces inches apart. A blush crept across Blake's own face and she immediately turned away, turned to catch Yang looking away from her.

 _Dust, she must definitely think I'm a homophobe now._

"Excuse me," Amber announced to the whole group, "I'm gonna go to the ladies' room."

Yang quickly stood up, surprising Ruby with her sudden movement, "I'll come with you."

Amber simply shrugged and waited for Yang to fall into step by her side. Everyone on their table hadn't noticed the way Amber's fingers found their way on Yang's bicep, pulling the blonde woman closer to her as they walked away. Everyone except Blake, who had watched the entire thing unfold in front of her eyes.

She turned back to her empty plate, her hands tight in a fist underneath the table. She stole a look at Sun, hoping to see a comforting smile on his face, but he was happily conversing with Sage and Neon.

The chattering continued uninterrupted for a while. Blake kept looking at her Scroll, checking the time. It had now been twenty minutes since Amber and Yang had left to go to the restroom. What was taking them so long? What were they even doing? Should she go investigate? She can't be the only one who noticed the pair's prolonged absence.

"Do those two have bladder problems or something?" Coco sounded irritated, pulling her shades down to look at Ruby who was happily sipping her soda, "Ruby, can you go see if they're okay?"

"No prob, Bob!" the smaller girl announced, gingerly pushing her seat back to make her way to the restrooms.

"I swear she and Yang talk so much like each other." Coco pinched the bridge of her nose.

"They are sisters." Pyrrha giggled, "What did you expect?"

"You think they're getting it on in there?" Nora teased, mischief in her voice.

Everyone had now looked at Nora. Sun flashed Blake a worried look and the reassuring smile she wanted to see minutes ago. Coco and Pyrrha only laughed at the insinuation while Ren shook his head. There was something that everyone knew that Blake didn't and all she could do was sit and wait for a response from anybody.

"Yang is impatient, isn't she?" Coco flashed a grin at Pyrrha.

Five more agonizing minutes later, Ruby was groaning when she returned to her seat next to Blake, followed by Amber who had a pleased look on her pretty face and finally, Yang Xiao Long, golden hair twice as messy and face as red as Pyrrha's hair. Everyone was silent as Yang slid back into her seat, trying desperately to tame her hair, their eyes looking everywhere else, but her.

"We should really get you a comb, Yang." Amber said, still smiling as she gracefully sat back down next to Blake.

"She'll just break it." Ruby added with a snicker.

"Shut it, you two." Yang huffed, lilac eyes punching holes into her empty plate.

"Well, this is awkward." Coco declared, breaking the silence and giving everyone an excuse to finally look at each other, "Shall we get the check and leave before anything else happens?"

After settling their bill, Yang hastily bid everyone goodbye as she grabbed Ruby's arm and dragged her sister out of the establishment. Nora and Ren ran after them, Nora laughing her head off and Ren trying to keep her quiet.

Blake stood still, her eyes trained on the exit, barely acknowledging the goodbyes the rest of the group had been giving her. When Amber placed a hand on her shoulder, Blake felt her skin crawl as she turned to look into the other woman's brown eyes, a warm smile on her lips.

"It was really nice meeting you, Blake." Amber said softly, her voice the embodiment of lust and desire.

"Bye." Blake whispered, forced herself to say actually.

"What was up with Yang?" Coco asked Amber, five feet away from Blake.

"I have no idea." Amber giggled. Blake knew she was lying.

"Blake." Blake hadn't realized that Sun was standing beside her or that his hand was now on her shoulder, "You okay?"

"Yeah." she nodded, "Let's go."

Minutes later, Sun and Blake had found themselves in a familiar situation: silently walking to Blake's house, processing everything that had just happened. They may not be in Menagerie anymore and they may definitely be a little bit older, maybe a little wiser, but some things never really change.

Was Amber taunting her? Does she know that she liked Yang? Did Sun tell anyone? Does everyone know she liked Yang? Does Yang know she liked Yang? Did she take too long? It had only been four days. What was she supposed to do now? Cardin had just gotten out of her way and now somebody else was worming into the picture, ruining Blake's chances with the blonde.

 _Girls like her don't stay single for long. That's for damn sure._

"So..." Sun finally broke the silence, walking beside her without even looking at her.

"What?" Blake hissed, unable to control the irritation seeping into her bones when Sun didn't finish his sentence.

"Woo her, swooning, crying gods and universe bending?" he sounded a lot more chipper than Blake wanted him to be about the situation, a plan already at the top of his head.

Blake sighed. Sun was her only hope now. "Definitely."


	8. Bright and Breezy

When Sun had told her that he had a plan, this was not what Blake had in mind.

A deep v-neck shirt and a mini skirt in this damn weather? Sun was entirely out of his mind and Blake even more so for actually listening to him. She should have known this was what he was thinking. All it took for Sun Wukong to make the girls swoon was to show off his abs and flex his guns.

He might have a point since Yang did mention he was hot, but that didn't mean she couldn't wear black leggings underneath. She also made sure to bring her thick black blazer and the beige scarf her mother had given her two years ago. No point in getting Yang to offer her the scarf she was returning again. Although that did make for a good excuse.

Blake suddenly felt a lot of eyes on her as she walked around Bailey Hall at Beacon University. Not just Faunus eyes, human eyes as well. She would have felt a little bit more confident if not for how uncomfortably mini the skirt was. It was probably one of her mother's forgotten gifts to her.

Halfway through Professor Port's story about returning a baby bird to its nest while fighting off a vulture in the middle of downtown Vale, Blake had realized that she had no way of contacting Yang. They have been in Beacon for over two years now and they have never once seen each other until Yang had walked out of Bailey Hall with Cardin.

Then she remembered Ruby.

Immediately after Professor Port had dismissed them, Blake squeezed through the crowd. Maybe Ruby would be in the hallway, walking to her next class or hanging out somewhere. She did say that she had seen Blake around, but there was no sign of the black-and-red-haired girl anywhere.

This time, she remembered Ren, with whom she shared Professor Port's class with. She hurried back to the lecture hall, but found it empty, except for Professor Port himself and a couple of unfortunate souls who got caught on their way out. Blake snuck away and decided to call Sun instead.

After the fifth ring, the monkey Faunus had picked up, "I thought we agreed to do this later? After all your classes?"

"Sun, I don't have her number." Blake said dryly.

"Well, I don't have it either. Didn't you say you had classes with Ren?"

"I just missed him."

"I know!" he cheered, "Why don't you ask Velvet? She might have Yang's number or she might ask Coco for it if she doesn't."

"That seems suspicious." Blake had thought about it. If she were to ask Velvet for Yang's number, she might think that she liked Yang. She did, but Velvet doesn't need to know that and especially not Coco, whom she just met a few days ago.

"Blake," Sun sounded exhausted, "You have something to give back to Yang. That's why you're asking for her number. You can't find Ren or Ruby so that's why you're asking her instead."

 _Why didn't I think of that?_

"I'm gonna do that." Blake announced.

"Yeah, call me later when you're ready." he ended the call.

The plan was simple enough. Dress to impress, ask Yang to meet her and do everything that Sun says afterwards. All Blake needed to do now was ask for the blonde's number, go to her classes, hope everything goes well and get out of these damn clothes as soon as she reaches the front door of her home.

Velvet responded with Yang's number during Blake's final class for the day. That took a while. Velvet must have asked around or hadn't found the time in between her classes. Blake thanked her, saved Yang's number on her contacts list and stared at it for a full minute. She now held a line of communication with the blonde at the tip of her fingers.

What was she supposed to say? Should she call her? Would Yang even answer a call from an unknown number?

 _Just send her a message, Blake._

[Hi, Yang. This is Blake Belladonna. I got your number from Velvet. I have your scarf here.]

 _Then what? This is too formal._

She deleted the message and typed again.

[ Hi, Yang. This is Blake. Tell me when you're available so I can return your scarf. ]

 _That sounds demanding._

Once more, the message was discarded. Blake thought long and hard before she typed again.

[ Hi, Yang. This is Blake. I wanted to give your scarf back. Let me know when you're free. ]

She took a deep breath and pressed send. Would Yang respond immediately? Was that the wrong thing to say? Should she have introduced herself first and waited for an acknowledgement before telling her about the scarf?

Five minutes later, she got a message. She expected to see Yang's name, but it was Sun, asking her to meet him in front of Mercer Building. She responded with a terse yes and made the ten-minute walk without another notification from anybody. Did Velvet give her the right number?

"You look hot, Blake!" Sun greeted her when she arrived, "Did you get her number?"

"I'm not sure if this is the right one." Blake ignored the compliment.

"Did you ask Velvet?"

"Wait, I'm going to―"

There was a new message. From Yang. Blake tried her best not to drop her Scroll when she read it.

 _Why the hell am I so damn nervous?_

[ I'm free now. Where you wanna meet? ;) ]

"Is that her?" Sun tried to take a peek at Blake's Scroll, "Did she reply? Is she coming over?"

[ Is Mercer okay? ]

"Yes." Blake replied to Sun.

[ Yup. See you. ]

"She's on her way." Blake announced with a victorious smile on her face. She was smiling at her Scroll. She wanted to slap herself awake from this emotionally exhausting occurrence. She hasn't smiled at her Scroll like this since high school.

"Alright," Sun clapped his hands together, "you remember the plan, don't you? You gotta be cool, act all mysterious. Nora told me that Yang likes making jokes, so you gotta be sure to laugh at her jokes, okay? When she starts talking, just nod your head as if you're listening."

"Do you not listen?" Blake interrupted, an eyebrow raised at what he just said.

"Don't get distracted by anything. I mean anything." Sun gestured to his chest and made small, circular movements, "Keep your eyes on her face. Don't talk too much either."

"Sun, this is ridiculous. How in the―"

"I see her!" Sun roughly placed his hands on her shoulder, "Be cool, okay? Now start flirting."

Blake was too nervous to turn around, especially with what she and Sun had planned to do. When Sun had flashed her his million-lien smile, Blake knew that Yang was within earshot. She held up her hand and tenderly grasped Sun's bicep and laughed as naturally as she possibly could. Her own voice sounded shrill to all four of her ears.

"Hey, Yang!" Sun looked past Blake and winked at their very much expected guest.

Blake turned around and greeted Yang with a broad smile, "Hi, Yang."

 _Keep it cool. Smile. Not too much._

"Hi, guys." Yang was wearing her black and yellow bomber jacket again with the hexagon-bee patch, her golden hair in a clean ponytail, a plain white shirt, blue jeans and black ankle boots.

"Glad you're back." Sun said to her, then promptly turned to Blake before the blonde woman could say anything more, "Well, I gotta go meet the guys. See you girls around!"

In the blink of an eye, Sun had jogged away from the two women, towards a destination Blake hadn't known. That was the plan. The first step was to flirt with Sun, to make Yang jealous or acutely aware of Blake's girlfriend potential and then he would leave to give the cat Faunus a chance to work her magic on the blonde.

"Umm... Bye!" Yang looked uncomfortable. Was that a good sign? The blonde then focused her attention to Blake and smiled as widely as she could, her lip now completely healed, "So, how's it going?"

 _You have to be available, but not be_ ** _so_** _available._

"Great." Blake coolly reached for the yellow scarf in her bag and oh so painfully slowly handed it to Yang, "Thank you for the scarf."

"No prob, Bob." she stuffed the scarf in her jacket pocket.

 _She made a joke. She made a joke. Laugh._

Blake's laughter sounded much better in her mind where it didn't sound as if she were being insulting to Yang. She wanted to turn around, without a word, and run as far away as her legs would allow, but Yang's soft smile and the twinkle in her lilac eyes kept her from making a move.

"Are you heading home?" Yang asked. That smile alone could launch ten thousand ships and Blake was in a rubber dinghy.

"Yes."

"Do you want some company?"

Blake could only nod and offer a small smile, a real one this time. Smiling was not a difficult feat for the usually stoic Faunus whenever Yang was around her.

Silently, they made their way outside Beacon University's entrance. Silently, they began the twenty-minute walk to Blake's house. It was aggravatingly silent. Blake had spent last week trying to get a hold of Yang, spent the last four years imagining what a conversation between the two of them would be like, but now that it was happening, now that she was walking right beside her, Blake found that she had no words to say.

 _Damn Sun's wooing, swooning, crying gods and universe bending._

What had she hoped to achieve with the idea of dressing this way and acting strange? Hypothermia? What made it worse was that Yang, herself, wasn't saying anything. This was going to be a long twenty-minute walk.

"Aren't you cold?" there was the sound of honey dripping that broke the silence looming in the horizon.

Blake spared a look at her clothes. Despite the low dip in her collar, there was barely enough cleavage and dozens of inches for the breeze to seep straight into her bones. She wrapped her scarf around her neck, but she could still feel the chill through her thin garments.

"A little. It's laundry day." she lied, this did not seem logical at all, " I'll be fine."

"Ha, same."

The gesture seemed to flow so naturally for the blonde as she wrapped her arms around Blake's shoulders, engulfing her in warmth. At the last minute, Blake had raised her own arm to fight it the way she always fought off Sun's hugs. If this were Sun, she would immediately use said arm to deflect his gesture, but this was not Sun. This was Yang Xiao Long and Blake's arm had now been caught in between her own pounding chest and Yang's breasts.

 _Oh, my dust. Soft._

Blake felt like a creep. She instantly pushed Yang away as amicably as she could and she took a step back so she wouldn't have to actually push the area where her arm was currently wedged between. There was warmth everywhere around Blake and inside of her, rising to her cheeks and setting fire to her insides.

"Oh, sorry!" Yang scratched her neck, a nervous smile on her face, "I usually give Ruby and my friends a big hug when they feel cold. Spread the warmth, ya know."

"You definitely have an impressive bo― impressive body heat." Blake tried not to smile, "I'm just not a big fan of hugging."

 _Say goodbye to more hugs in the future, you idiot._

"Not a fan of..." Yang's lilac eyes widened; the way her jaw dropped was even enchanting, her lips slightly parted and looked inviting, "Do your parents ever hug you?"

"Yes, they do." Blake laughed the thought of the blonde's lips out of her mind, "I'm just really not the hugging type."

"You probably haven't been hugged properly." Yang snorted, she threw her arms open and looked expectantly at Blake with a wide grin, "Quit arguing and come here. I've got warmth for two."

Blake didn't need another invitation, but she didn't want to seem all too eager either. She shrugged, rolled her eyes, smiled and carefully approached the warm blonde in front of her. She should have done this four years ago, back in that kitchen, should have done this last week when Yang had held her after Cardin attacked them.

Yang was warm like the beaches of Menagerie, her body was as soft as the sands in between Blake's toes. Though Blake couldn't see them now, she knew how her lilac eyes were as magnificent as the skies at the break of dawn; her hair as golden as the sun itself.

That would have been enough, to hold the woman she was bound to spend the rest of her life with close to her. The smell of apples lingered in the air between them and filled Blake's lungs. It was all she could hope for. But Yang gave her more. She pulled Blake closer, tighter until she could feel something jagged against her rib.

"Ouch!" Blake _had_ to break the hug, much to her dismay. Something in Yang's pocket was poking her.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Yang took one giant step back and fished for the thing that had hurt Blake within her jacket pocket.

Barely a minute and Blake already missed Yang's warmth around her. As if the universe had wanted to insult her further, the wind blew and sent a chill down her spine. Yang looked all too happy as she pulled the thing out of her pocket and held it up against the patch on her chest. It was a keychain: yellow hexagon with a cartoonish bee, same as the one on Yang's jacket.

"I remembered you didn't have a keychain." she squeezed the keychain in her hand before she held her palm open for Blake to reach for the metal object, "This is for you."

It was a lot warmer than she had expected when her own palm closed around it, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, of course!" the blonde laughed, "I have around twenty more keychains in my room."

"Are you collecting them?" Blake began the arduous task of finding her lone key within her bag. She kept her face down so that Yang wouldn't see her cheeks had turned crimson or how her smile refused to fade away.

"No. When I buy stuff, they almost always come with free keychains and it doesn't help that Ruby gives some to me as gifts. She probably thinks I **am** collecting them. I only ever use this one." Yang pulled a set of keys from her pocket, held together by a silver bottle opener keychain in the shape of an Ursa's head.

Yang had three keys on her keychain, Blake noticed. The blonde had explained that one was for her apartment, the other was a key to their home back on Patch Island and the last one was for her motorcycle in the garage on the island.

"Your motorcycle isn't here?" Blake asked, curious why she had never seen Yang on one before.

"Nope." the blonde laughed, "There's barely any parking here in the city and it's either gas or groceries. Last I checked, gas is bad for your health."

"Thank you for the keychain." Blake smiled and held up her house key and its new companion for Yang to see, "My lonely key won't be so lonesome anymore."

"Don't worry, Blakey." Yang motioned for them to continue walking, "Someday, you'll have your own set of keys. One for your own apartment and a car, maybe. Then you'll definitely thank me for that keychain."

Blake liked the sound of that. She couldn't help but imagine that that apartment was going to be shared with the woman next to her. A beige couch with orange throw pillows, a wide kitchen with dark wood cupboards and white marble countertops, the smell of coffee in the air and Yang offering to make breakfast.

The two of them had fallen into another round of silence, but the air wasn't charged with awkwardness and unease. Sun's plan was completely forgotten now. All that research and planning had gone to waste. Not that it was very useful in the first place. It might have worked for him, might work for another guy, but it didn't for her.

Blake could only wonder what Yang was thinking about as they walked, wondered if Yang might like her the same way she does. Last week, they were complete strangers and the blonde was oblivious to her existence and now they were friends. Blake wanted them to be more than that. She wanted them to be like Coco and Velvet.

The memory of those two had reminded her of everything that happened at Leelu's Pizza Dome two days prior. Yang had seen her look away from Coco and Velvet. Did Yang think she was uncomfortable with how close they were to each other? She _was_ uncomfortable. Not with Coco and Velvet, but with the wild thoughts that stirred in her mind in that moment.

"Hey, Yang." Blake said softly. She needed to clear the air.

"Yeah?" Yang shot her a look.

Blake had no courage to look at Yang, "I'm not... I'm not a homophobic person. Last Saturday was―"

"Coco and Velvet." Yang giggled, "No, no, it's okay. I mean, I was a little surprised by them too. And you did mention that you weren't comfortable with that."

"I didn't even know Velvet was seeing someone." that was the truth.

"Coco can be a blabbermouth, but she's pretty hush-hush about some things. I found out about them last week, after I got suspended. Coco was _**really**_ mad."

"Yeah, but I just wanted to say to you that I'm not homophobic. I was just caught off guard... I don't really notice these things."

 _I spent the last four years choosing not to._

"Really, Blake, it's okay. I respect other people's views in life. We don't have to talk about it, if you're not very comfortable with it. But it's good you're trying to accept it."

"Honestly, Velvet was the last person I expected to be gay." It was true. Blake had known Velvet even before high school. Their parents had spent a tremendous amount of time together and that meant their own daughters would have as well. But right now, Blake realized just how little she knew about the rabbit Faunus.

"Be not afraid of gayness." Yang had tried to adopt a serious expression, but she couldn't pass up a chance to laugh at her own joke, "Some are born gay, some achieve gayness and some have gayness thrust upon them. Coco was probably born gay. I wonder which one Velvet is."

"That's not how the saying goes." Blake laughed, more at how contagious the blonde woman's honey-dripping laughter was than at her actual joke. She turned to behold the woman next to her.

"That's how it should go." Yang was just about to to look at her too, but her damn Scroll rang and tore an opportunity for Blake to look into the sunrise away. It was out of reflect, but Blake had managed to look at the screen. Her heart fell when she had seen Amber's name, "Sorry. I gotta take this."

How could she have forgotten about Amber? How could she have forgotten how she and Yang had spent almost half an hour in the restrooms? Blake quickly took a step away and slowed down to give Yang a little bit of privacy, her cat ears tucked inwards, not wanting to hear Amber's seductive voice over Yang's Scroll. Yang had briefly looked at the sudden movement of her ears before her head had turned the opposite direction.

"Hey, Amber," Yang smiled, Blake frowned, "what's up?"

"Are you coming over or not?" Amber said, lust and desire in her voice.

 _Damn these Faunus ears._

"I'll be there in an hour?" Yang pouted.

"Make that thirty minutes. You owe me."

"I'll make you dinner then." Yang laughed, her rosy cheeks had now turned crimson, "I'll see you later, Amber."

Blake gritted her teeth as she watched Yang slip her Scroll back into her pocket, her face still flushed. She had spent all this time with the blonde, trying to impress her and all it took to make her look this happy was one call from Amber.

 _Girls like her don't stay single for long._

Yang slowed down her pace so that Blake could catch up to her, "I like to cook sometimes."

The dismissive and rapid manner in which the blonde had said it proved that she did not want to talk about Amber, but Blake really had no response to that. All she could think of was that Yang, the woman she was supposed to be with, the one she had been thinking of for the last four years, was going to go to Amber's apartment and make her dinner. She had to say something though. She had to enjoy what little bit of Yang she had, "That's cool."

"What about you?" Yang laughed, "What do you like? Any hobbies?"

 _I like you._

"Nothing interesting." Blake said dryly. She couldn't find it in herself to even pretend that she was feeling okay, "I like reading books. It's pretty stupid."

Yang only hummed, "It's not stupid if you like it. Come on, tell me more. What do you like about books?"

"What's in them?" Blake bit her tongue. That sounded a little too harsh.

"Uh-huh." Yang had only smiled at her, "Keep going."

"I like how they smell. This is really boring stuff, you know." Blake smiled back. Yang seemed to be listening, hanging on to every single word that would dare tumble out of her lips and she was ashamed that all she could talk about was books.

"Old and not old?" Yang had a pinched expression on her face, but the smile was still there. Blake could only continue in the hope that she could keep that smile where it was.

"Kind of, but my favorite has to be the smell between old books and brand new ones. It's like burnt wood with... phosphorus? I―I can't explain it. I don't know."

Yang laughed, not unkindly, but softly, "I feel really bad for not knowing what you mean. I've never really thought about the smell of books."

"Sorry. I told you it was stupid."

"It is not." Yang announced, finality in her tone, "You really shouldn't apologize for the things that make you happy."

"Thanks for listening." she said softly as she pulled her blazer tighter to ward off the chill in the air.

Blake clutched the keychain Yang had given her when she saw her house in the distance. Her eyes widened to see that her father's car was in the driveway. She remembered how she had run out of the house this morning, afraid that her father would tell her to dress in something warmer, remembered how she had told Yang that it was laundry day.

 _What is he doing home so early?_

Yang must have noticed the panic in her amber eyes because the blonde had stopped walking, her own lilac eyes fixed on the car in the driveway, "Your dad's not gonna kill me, is he?"

 _He is going to do much worse than kill you. He'll kill me._

The universe taunted her again. The front door had opened and out came Ghira Belladonna who waved at them to come closer. Was he watching them from the window? Blake saw the confused look on her father's face when he inspected his daughter from head to toe.

"Dad, this is Yang!" Blake chirped before her father could say anything.

Ghira looked at Blake, the scowl on his face turned into a smile the minute his eyes landed on Yang, "Hi, I'm Blake's dad."

Yang was nervous as she held out her hand for Ghira Belladonna to shake, her unease evident in her smile. Blake had heard a soft squeak from the blonde's throat the moment her father had scooped her up in a hug, lifting her a foot or two in the air. Blake had to fight a groan from escaping her own throat.

"Blake told me all about what you did last week." he put the shaking Yang down back beside Blake and smiled, "I'm sorry about how I reacted. I had just heard there was a fight and you had a cut on your lip and I assumed the worst."

 _Stop talking. Stop talking. Stop talking._

"Dad, what are you doing home so early?" Blake almost screamed.

"I took a day off." Ghira inspected Blake's clothes again, but didn't mention anything about it and turned to Yang who had thankfully recovered from her shock, "I'm making dinner. Would you like to join us?"

Half of Blake wanted Yang to leave so she could quickly change out of her clothes and before her father could ask her about them and reveal that it wasn't in fact laundry day. But half of Blake wanted Yang to stay, to forget about Amber. Yes, it would be awkward, but then she could spend more time with her.

"I'd love to... sir." Yang said, her hand unconsciously grabbed a tuft of her golden locks, "But I have to be somewhere."

"Well, maybe next time then." Ghira offered, "How about this weekend? As an apology for how rude I was last week."

Blake saw how Yang's hand slipped into the pocket of her bomber jacket, how her hand must have gripped the Scroll inside it. Yang was nervous. Yang wanted to be somewhere else right now. She wanted to be with Amber.

"I can't this weekend." she laughed nervously, "My dad's coming over to visit me and my sister."

"Okay, let me know when you're free. You can even bring your sister along." Ghira smiled at her, defeat in his tone, but there was hope there, " Thank you again and I'm sorry."

"No problem, sir." Yang said stiffly then she turned to bid Blake goodbye.

"Bye, Yang." Blake forced herself to smile and watched as Yang walked back the way they came, her golden hair swaying in that clean ponytail. She watched as the blonde pulled out her Scroll and pressed it to her ear.

Blake closed the front door, still clutching the keychain Yang had given her. She sighed softly before she turned around to see that her father had been observing her all this time.

"Why are you dressed like this?" he raised his eyebrows expectantly, "It's cold out."

"I hadn't noticed." Blake whispered as she slipped her keys back into her pocket, "I'll go get changed then come down to help in a few minutes."

Her father said nothing more and Blake was grateful for it. As soon as she reached her bedroom, she changed out of her absurdly thin clothes and into something warmer, something thick and black. Still, she was cold inside, her skin missing the warmth of Yang, the person she was going to spend the rest of her life with, who was now on her way to Amber's apartment.


	9. Explosion

Four days, seventeen hours and twenty-eight minutes.

It had been four days, seventeen hours and twenty-eight minutes since Yang Xiao Long had left a heartbroken Blake Belladonna, hand tight around the hexagonal bee keychain the blonde had given her, in front of her door as said blonde made her way to the apartment of Amber Fall.

Two days, two hours and fifteen minutes later, Yang Xiao Long and Blake Belladonna had started texting each other and Blake was happy that she could now communicate with the blonde whenever she wanted. Within reason, of course.

Their texting started with the subject of Sun and Yang had called her a heartbreaker for turning the monkey Faunus down. That simple conversation had now led to Blake staring at a photo of Yang that she had set as her lockscreen image. Yang looked to be about eight years old, her golden hair in pigtails, her smile was wide with a red wagon behind her feet.

Blake would never do such a thing without being provoked. Yang had started it. She started snooping around and had asked Sun for a photo of Adam, followed by a picture of Blake in a sheep costume her mother had made her wear when she was six. Never mind that Blake was thrilled to know that Yang had called her cute. She was over the moon when Yang said her lockscreen image was Blake's picture.

Her parents had noticed her cheerful mood and had repeatedly told her to put her Scroll away the entire week. Her mother had teased her that she was talking with her boyfriend, much to her father's chagrin. It was no different this Saturday even when she hadn't even gotten a single message from Yang.

"So when are we going to meet your boyfriend?" Kali said over lunch.

"Mom!" Blake flushed, "I do not have a boyfriend."

"You're too young to have a boyfriend." Ghira almost choked on his food.

"Shush, dear." her mother cooed at him, "She isn't."

"She's still a baby!" he argued.

"She's old enough to have a baby."

It was Blake's turn to choke. It was bad enough that they talked about her having a relationship she didn't have, but to start talking about babies? Blake did not want to think that far ahead. Not yet. Not now that Yang hadn't even said anything to her since Thursday night.

The uncomfortable topic of Blake's love life went on even after she had washed all the dishes. She had to get away before her parents would even think about having "the talk" with her. She texted Sun, but he said that he was busy playing with Neptune, Scarlet and Sage. Neon was currently out of town and she and Blake hadn't really been close enough to start hanging out with just the two of them. That only left Velvet who, thankfully, asked Blake to meet her at Cafe Polendina in downtown Vale.

Fifteen minutes and one uneventful bus ride later, Blake was walking to the cafe. She had only checked to see if Yang had left her a message twice on the bus and once after she got off. Nothing. No new messages. She was probably busy.

Cafe Polendina wasn't very big and had an artisan feel to it, but the most important thing about it was that it was warm inside and that it wasn't crowded. Blake found Velvet by herself seated near the counter, a textbook open in front of her, but the rabbit Faunus' eyes were glued to her Scroll.

 _Coco._

"Hi, Velvet." Blake said softly so as not to frighten her, "Thanks for inviting me."

"Hey, Blake." Velvet smiled at her, the Scroll had now served as a bookmark when Velvet closed her textbook to greet Blake, "Glad you could make it. How are you?"

 _Stressed. Sleepless. Jealous?_

"I'm doing okay. You?" Blake glanced over at the menu and had picked out the jasmine tea she was going to order.

"Been busy with school lately, but I'm doing alright." Velvet smiled, "How are your parents?"

"They're talking about having grandkids and I don't even have a boyfriend." Blake laughed and excused herself from Velvet to order. Minutes later, she was seated next to the rabbit Faunus, regretting how she hadn't thought about bringing a book in case Velvet had intended her to be the awkward third wheel for today's excursion.

"You're going to Nora's party next weekend, are you?"

Right. Nora's party. The party that Sun, Nora and Ren had been planning while Blake had watched Amber latch herself onto Yang in Leelu's Pizza Dome like a starved leech.

"Am I even invited?" Blake hadn't heard an invite from anyone. She and Nora had just met last weekend and they had exchanged less than ten words to each other.

"Of course, you are." Velvet cheered, "You can even ask Nora and she'll tell you the same thing. Come on, Blake, it'll be fun."

"Yeah, okay." Blake sipped her tea and watched Velvet disappear behind her Scroll again, smiling at whatever she and Coco must be virtually talking about. If this was how she looked whenever Yang texted her, then it was no surprise that her parents had started assuming she was seeing someone. Unfortunately, for her and probably for Ghira and Kali too, she was as single as the day she had been born.

"Things have been a whole lot better, hasn't it?" Velvet suddenly said to Blake, a soft smile on her lips, "Since Cardin left."

Blake only nodded. She knew all about how Cardin had pulled one of Velvet's Faunus ears so hard that she had to go to the hospital, how he had ripped apart Velvet's textbooks and threw her belongings in the trash, how Velvet had been so afraid of him that she refused to leave her apartment for two weeks.

Things were tremendously better since Cardin had left, but there was still a little bit of anxiety left among the Faunus that they refused to talk about him among other humans, among friends. There were just some things that they would never understand.

There were still others who taunted them, who whispered terrible things when they would pass by the halls, who sneered at them and threatened to send them to the zoo, but at least there was no more violence. It might not seem like much to others, but to Velvet and Blake, it made all the difference in the world. It was a start. A good one.

The two friends had talked about Menagerie afterwards, reminiscing their childhood bathing in the sun and building sand castles by the sea. They wished they could both be there right now and not stuck in the cold city of Vale and had promised to return there for a week-long vacation one day.

Minutes later, Coco had walked into Cafe Polendina. She was still wearing her sunglasses and beret indoors, and even in the not-so-sunny day outside. Blake wanted to ask her why when she sat down next to Velvet. She was about to ask her, but the sight of a striking woman walking towards them had made her forget.

Amber Fall looked twice as gorgeous as she had looked last week. Her short brown hair framed her face, accentuating her high cheekbones and the beauty mark underneath her left eye. She gracefully pulled off her gray scarf, baring the smooth tan chest and a cleavage that Blake wished she had. Even her smile was alluring as she sat on the chair right next to Blake.

"Sorry," her voice was as monotonous and bored as Blake's, but the husky tone at the end of each word sounded completely Amber, completely provocative, "my dad called."

 _At least it wasn't Yang._

"Is Pyrrha not with you, girls?" Velvet asked them, her hand had found its way over Coco's knee. Blake didn't have to see it to know.

"She's studying for a test on Monday." Coco said softly. She leaned a little bit closer to the rabbit Faunus, "Ren is with Nora and she is trying to be a good girl so her parents would let her have a party next weekend."

"And Yang?" Velvet asked. Blake was grateful that no one had noticed her cat ears perk up.

"With Ruby and her dad." Amber responded, her long fingers tucked her hair behind her ears, exposing her neck to Blake who had turned a shade redder, "They're both probably lecturing her about her ex."

"They'll never let her live that one down." Coco laughed out loud, making the few other patrons inside the cafe jump in their seats.

Blake felt uncomfortable when they had started asking questions about her, what her hobbies were, what she liked to do and they even brought up her relationship with Sun. She had spent a good ten minutes regaling to them with her tale of punching him and how he had asked her out soon after. No, she had no romantic feelings for him, but, yes, she loved him dearly as a friend.

And just like that, Velvet and Coco had retreated into a conversation of their own, their knees pressed against each other and spoke in hushed tones. Blake could still hear their sweet nothings, but she chose not to listen. She pulled out her Scroll and checked for a message that she knew she was not going to receive.

She cast her amber eyes at the woman next to her. Amber was sipping her tea and was looking at her. Blake could hear her heart hammering against her chest.

 _Stop looking at me._

Amber leaned closer to her and heard every sultry syllable that had escaped the other woman's lips, "I'm a bit of a bookworm myself."

Blake felt slightly insulted, but pressed on. Who else was she going to talk to? "What kind of books do you read?"

"Well, the last I read was Levine's Lighthouse Trilogy. Have you read those?"

Read them? Blake loved them. She read every word in every page more than twice since she first picked up a copy. It was one of her favorites.

"I like that." she tried to sound neutral, "Especially the third book, Anna and the Gilded Tower. The epilogues were spectacular."

"I cried for thirty minutes after I put the book down." Amber straightened herself and pulled her chair closer to Blake, their knees about two inches away now, "I can't not cry whenever I read it."

"Have you read Howard's Obsidian Chronicles?" Blake tried to fight the smile that tugged at her lips.

"Yes! They're really good, but I prefer the one-time spin-off, Atlas Reborn."

"Me too!" Blake was excited. She had never met anybody in her twenty years who could say that, "But I'm more into his medieval stuff like Ancient Tomes."

"Please tell me you have read The Shadows of Wander." there was lust in Amber's eager tone.

"I have. Why did you remind me? That book broke my heart. He was only trying to bring his true love back to life."

It did break her heart. Reading about a man who would go to the lengths of making a deal with the devil for the life of a woman he would never see again was like subjecting oneself to torture. Pure, gut-wrenching tragedy. She had spent the last six years just imagining the beautiful landscapes described in it, but now that she had finally found somebody who was as enthusiastic about it as herself, she recalled every single detail of the book.

Amber was smiling widely and had stared at Blake in equal parts astonishment and disbelief. Two kindred spirits have just met, united by their love of literature. Blake had been so sure that no one would ever love books as much as her and her father, but here Amber was.

"Wow," the brunette whispered, "I've never really met anyone who reads the same books as I do. Now I'm afraid to ask."

"Ask what?" Blake held her breath.

Amber pulled her chair closer now, closing the distance between their knees. Slowly, she tilted her head closer, her short brunette hair brushing Blake's cheek. Blake could smell Amber's minty cologne and could feel the woman's body heat suffusing with Blake's nervousness.

"Do you happen to read," Amber's voice was low. Blake felt the heat rush to her cheeks then slip back down to her stomach, "Oum's Ninjas of Love?"

Blake was speechless. Ninjas of Love was one of the guilty pleasures she had vowed never to speak of to anyone. She can openly talk about everything else, but Ninjas of Love? No. Dozens and dozens of pages were dedicated to pure smut and colorful descriptions. The lore was kind of wonky and a little out of place at times, but it was all pure gold to her.

Amber had inched away from her now and waited for a response. She sat back against her chair, her arms folded over her chest, showing off her assets and hummed a sultry tune that could quench the most arid desert in Remnant.

"Kind of." Blake sighed and she felt her throat go dry.

"This is totally creepy." Amber laughed. Blake couldn't help but stare as the woman pressed a finger to her lips, "Don't tell anyone."

"I won't if you won't." Blake smiled, utterly mesmerized.

"I love the new one. Places of Soul?" they were talking in rapid whispers now, afraid to be caught and reveled in the thrill of being caught.

"No spoilers, please. I haven't finished it yet."

"Alright, alright. Which part are you in?"

"The ninjas reach the palace to save the Princess. That's all. Don't tell me what happens next."

"Oh my dust, you are going to love the ending. Or not. Not sure, but it's great."

"That is kind of like spoiling me."

"I won't say anymore."

It was Blake and Amber's turn to retreat into a conversation all to themselves, discussing ideas and emotions that had stemmed from their similar love for literature. In time, they had learned that the written word was not the only love they shared. They had similar tastes in music as well.

Amber had told Blake all about a band called RWBY. Their songs were great, but she knew Blake would love their techno tracks as much as she did. They had both preferred tea over coffee, opting to have a steaming cup nearby while they read books in their pajamas and tucked underneath their sheets.

It was oddly amusing that both of their parents had enrolled them in ballet lessons when they were younger for the same reason: discipline and posture. They had laughed at their failed attempts at the piano and have admitted to only knowing how to play one song, but had vowed never to approach the instrument again.

The two women had been raving about their love for cancelled TV shows when Sun had tried to call Blake. She quickly dismissed it, not wanting to miss Amber's rant about the network that had pulled the plug on the short-lived Galactic Outlaws and how they tried to redeem themselves by releasing a movie adaptation titled Wasp. Cult classic.

A full hour later and all four women had decided that it was time for them to leave. It was at this time that Blake believed that Amber Fall was her long-lost twin, her sister in all things literature, music and tastes. She wanted to talk more with Amber, to share her thoughts and opinions and Blake was grateful that Coco had mentioned that they would all go their separate ways after she returned from the restrooms, granting her a few more minutes with Amber.

Velvet had gotten a call and excused herself while she answered it. Now, Blake and Amber were completely alone, free to talk about their similar interests without the knowledge of their other companions.

"You seem like a really nice person, Blake." Amber said softly, her brown eyes steadied on Blake, "Please stay away from Yang."

 _What?_

Did she hear it right? Was Amber actually telling her to stay away from Yang?

"Excuse me?" Blake could feel her temper rising. Never mind the beautiful way Amber had looked at her without a shred of emotion. Who was she to tell her to stay away from Yang?

"Listen, Blake." Amber stood up just as Coco was in sight, "You'll only get hurt."

"What?" Blake whispered, her eyes locked against Amber's, her body unable to move by the sudden shift in their exchange.

Velvet had now stood behind Blake, gently placing her hands on the cat Faunus' shoulders, "Blake, Sun said he was going to pick you up here. He said he had something important to tell you."

"And here you tell us that there is nothing going on between you two." Coco teased, her arm slid around Velvet's waist, "Come on then, girls. It wouldn't be a date if there are three other girls around. See you around, Blake."

"Have fun, Blake." Velvet cheered, pinching the stunned Faunus' cheek before she and her girlfriend proceeded to the entrance, hands clasped together.

Amber was still staring at her with a calm expression on her face, her husky voice dripping with lust and desire, "Bye, Blake."

 _She's taunting me._

Amber couldn't have known that she liked Yang. Could she? They have only spoken of the blonde once throughout the entire afternoon and it had been about her spending time with her family. She and Amber had actually bonded and shared their common penchants.

All of it except their equal interest for one Yang Xiao Long.

Blake abruptly got to her feet. She wanted to go home and hide under the warm lavender sheets of her bed. She sauntered over to the door of Cafe Polendina, as fast as she could. Recklessly, she had run into Sun Wukong who was also rushing to get inside.

"Blake!" he grabbed her by the shoulders, "We need to talk."

"Not now, Sun." she said tersely.

"No, Blake, now." she tried to push him aside, but he held her in place, "I have something to show you."

"What is so damn important that you have to tell me now?" she demanded.

Sun said nothing, but he refused to let her go. Gently, he guided her over to an empty seat outside of the cafe. There was nobody else there but the two of them. Coco, Velvet and Amber had now disappeared. She fell into the outdoor chair and waited for Sun to sit across from her. He slipped his Scroll out of his pocket and held it up for her to see an Atlesian news article.

"I'm not really in the mood for more anti-Faunus crimes in Atlas, Sun." Blake pushed the Scroll away, but Sun had moved it closer to her amber eyes, silently convincing her to look at it closely.

"Do you remember that fortune-teller four years ago?"

Of course, Blake remembered. Her name was Madame Leona, she said that Blake liked the fairer things in life, that she was a lion Faunus whose tacky belongings were produce-themed, she smoked a pipe and that she had cheated them out of ten lien. She had also shown them the person that they were destined to spend the rest of their lives with. Madame Leona had shown her a vision of Yang.

Blake now grabbed Sun's scroll from his hands and began reading the article in front of her. There was a picture of Madame Leona, purple shawl, eyes as brown as her wild hair, staring grimly at the camera, holding a black card with some numbers on it.

It was an Atlesian mugshot.

Blake was taken aback. She began reading the article. Her mind working overtime as she processed the words written on the scroll and the ones that came in rapid succession out of Sun's mouth.

"Nep likes to stay up-to-date with news from Atlas and he shows me this." Sun added, "It says that Madame Leona was caught tricking a girl in Atlas. This girl claims that Madame Leona had conned her out of _two thousand_ lien."

The woman was not to be named to protect her identity and Madame Leona was sent to Atlesian prison. At the bottom of the article, there were plenty of comments from people that claimed that they had paid Madame Leona who showed them people who are now either happily married to someone else. Some claim that the people she showed in her vision weren't the right ones and that they've moved on to someone else.

Without a word, she handed Sun his Scroll back. Blake had been right all along. Madame Leona was a cheater and she was a damned fool to believe that she could buy a vision of the future for a measly ten lien. She looked at Sun and saw exactly what he was thinking. He doesn't need to say it out loud, but Blake understood that her belief that she and Yang were supposed to be together was founded on deception and lies.

She had no right to be angry at Amber. She had no right to try and win Yang away from her. She had gone through hell for nothing and the best she could have ever had was how comforting the vision had been to her for the past four years. That was it. It was only comfort for her troubled soul.

When she had arrived home, her parents were already waiting for her at the dinner table. Her father looked to be on the verge of another lecture about dating, but Blake was in no mood to sit through it like a dutiful daughter. She excused herself, lying that she had already gotten dinner with Velvet before returning home.

Blake's stomach was not as unfeeling as her heart. At nine-forty-seven in the evening, it had demanded to be fed, rumbling to be heard by its numb host. As if to answer the call of feeding, Kali Belladonna softly knocked on her bedroom door and whispered:

"Honey, your dinner's in the fridge. You should go eat it and get some sleep. I know you're awake."

Blake forced herself out of the soft confines of her sheets and padded over to the door. A mother knows best and a mother with hearing as sensitive as hers, of course, would have heard her daughter's stomach growling.

"Thanks, mom." Blake silently stepped out of her bedroom and stood in front of her mother. All of the lights were out, but it never mattered to the Belladonna family. They were gifted with night vision, able to see clearly in the dark with a broader depth of field than a regular human.

"What's going on, Blake?" Kali asked as she brushed Blake's bangs away from her face, whispering so that Ghira wouldn't hear, "You can tell me anything, you know that, right?"

"I know, mom." Blake looked at her toes, "I'm just stressed out. That's all."

"All the more reason not to skip meals, young lady." Kali squeezed her shoulder and stared at her daughter for a minute.

Blake knew that her mother wanted to say more, she knew that her mother wanted **her** to say more, to talk to her. They had been very concerned about her ever since they had gotten a call from the school informing them that Blake Belladonna, their only daughter, had been involved in a fight. It was both relieving and nerve-wracking.

"You know," Kali whispered, "your father and I love you very much, honey. We always will."

"I love you too, mom. Dad too." Blake smiled softly, "Always."

Her mother kissed her forehead and bid her goodnight before she went to bed herself. Blake quietly made her way down the stairs, grabbed her cold salmon cuts from the fridge and stared as it spun inside the microwave.

She and Amber had bonded and grown closer all afternoon and out of the blue, the other woman had warned her to stay away from Yang, that she'll only get hurt. Well, she was hurting now. Yang was supposed to be the person she was going to spend the rest of her life with, somebody she would grow old with.

But that had all been a lie too.

Madame Leona had been imprisoned in Atlas and none of her predictions came true for those who had paid her the full price. Even if Blake did have twenty-five lien that day four years ago, it still wouldn't have made a difference in how everything had turned out now. It would only have been a lie that cost twenty-five lien and four years of her sanity.

But maybe there was still some truth to Madame Leona's vision. Yang had acted the exact same way Blake had seen, but the circumstances had been different. They weren't in a kitchen, they were in Beacon University and Yang wasn't smiling, her lip was bleeding.

Yes, Blake was right all along. The future is not set in stone and can be gleaned into like it was an episode of Galactic Outlaws or a page in Obsidian Chronicles or Ninjas of Love. It was all a network of choices and circumstances and it was ever-changing, never the same.

And Yang had chosen. She chose Amber.


	10. The Bottle Spins

[ I'll pick you up in fifteen minutes. Wear something hot. ]

Blake stared at her Scroll for a minute before she threw it on top of her bed. Even after what happened last week, Sun still thought that she and Yang could still happen. Maybe, but Blake thought it would be best to just stay friends with the blonde. She did go overboard in the last month since she had met Yang and she was with Amber.

She never bothered dressing "hot" as Sun had suggested. There was nobody in that party to impress and even if she went in a risqué bikini, the person whose attention she wanted would still be Amber's. So, she thought to just be comfortable and get through with the night. She did promise Velvet she would show up and, like always, Sun would make sure she would keep her word.

Blake dressed warmly and comfortably. Black tank top underneath a bluish-gray sweater, faded blue jeans, black boots and an olive-green field jacket three sizes too big for her. She studied herself in the mirror. She had heard plenty of times that she was beautiful, that she was stunning, Yang had even called her cute, but not tonight. Tonight, she was a girl in an oversized jacket.

And real, flesh and blood cat ears on her head.

Blake had never thought it bothered Yang or that she thought about her Faunus heritage at all because she always felt so _human_ around the blonde. She had asked Blake earlier that week about them, if she could hear out of them. If it had been anyone else, Blake would have been offended, but it was Yang, sweet, thoughtful Yang, her friend. She joked about it like they always did in their virtual exchanges. It was all friendly banter.

She heard her Scroll buzz, took one final look at herself in the mirror and sighed. She knew Yang was going to be at the party and Amber was going to be there too. This would make for an awkward night and if it was going to be like the other parties she had been to, it would get a million times more awkward with party games.

[ Look out your window ]

She did. Out on the sidewalk across the street from her house, a blue SUV was parked. Sun Wukong stuck his whole upper body out of the backseat window and waved both of his arms at her before he jumped out to run to her doorstep.

He never did like doors.

Blake tucked her phone into her pocket and rushed to greet him before her parents interrogated him. She knew her mother was still coupling her with Sun and given how Blake had been acting last week, both of her parents thought that maybe she and Sun had finally gotten together. Kali was thrilled. Ghira was not.

"So, you ready to go?" Sun called out from the door before Kali had even opened it, "Oh, Mrs. Belladonna, hi."

Ghira sidestepped Blake and stood closer to Sun to convey his dominance, "Wukong."

"Mr. Belladonna," Sun only smiled. He had gotten used to Ghira's paternal behavior the eighteenth time he had knocked on their doorstep, "good evening, sir. Blake told you about the party, didn't she?"

"I did." Blake announced as she pushed past both of her parents to stand beside the monkey Faunus, "You said I could go."

Her parents had actually convinced her to go. She had been cooped up in her room the entire week that a night with friends was exactly what she needed. Both of them appraised her, feigning a last-minute rejection like what other parents would do. They liked being dramatic.

"Have her home by eleven." Ghira gently pressed a finger to Sun's chest.

"Nonsense, Ghira!" Kali pulled her husband's hand back, "Blake has her own key. She can come home whenever she wants. Be responsible, Blake."

"Yes, mom." Blake rolled her eyes. A great feeling of love returning to her heart for her parents. "I'll be going then."

She kissed them both goodbye and followed Sun into the car. Scarlet winked at her from the driver's seat and Neptune beamed at her beside him. Blake looked over her shoulder and saw three kegs in the back.

"Scarlet's aunt runs a liquor store." Sun said nonchalantly.

"And she's okay with a bunch of twenty-year-olds getting three kegs of beer?" Blake looked at them incredulously. Wasn't the legal drinking age different here in Vale?

"I'm already twenty-one," Neptune said the minute the car started moving, "so it's not stolen."

"Did Nora say who else was going to be at the party?" Scarlet asked them.

"No doubt Ren is gonna be there," Sun counted names on his fingers, "Coco, Velvet, Neon and Sage are already there, Pyrrha and her boyfriend, Yang, her sister and some friends that we're going to meet tonight."

Blake noticed how Sun failed to mention Amber. Was she not going to be there? She hadn't told Sun about what Amber had said to her last weekend, about staying away from Yang. She honestly didn't want to. Sun might think that she could try and win Yang away, but Blake had lost the drive to do so. Yang was never hers and she was never really promised to her either.

And that was okay.

Just because Yang would never look at her the way she had in her vision, or kissed her, or held her, doesn't mean the blonde with the sunrise in her eyes would never be in her life. They were friends, after all. And Sun is a testament to how friendships can last, seeing as he had tried his best to make her happy without asking for anything in return.

Fifteen minutes later, the car had stopped in front of a two-storey home in the suburbs. They could hear muffled music and cheering from the inside, but to Blake, it was as loud as standing right in front of a marching band. This was going to hurt. She could only block out as much noise as she could. She immediately planned on staying away from where the music would be coming from.

The front door had opened and out came Nora Valkyrie, both hands in the air and squealing at the sight of Neptune unloading a beer keg from the back of the SUV. She skipped across her front yard, grabbed the keg from Neptune's hands as if it weighed nothing more than a pound and carried it back into the house.

"Well, come on in, you guys." she called after them, "This. Is. Happening!"

Sun had signaled for Blake to go on ahead of them. Reluctantly, she walked across Nora's front yard, past the bush of hydrangeas and peered into the mass of moving bodies inside. Right in front of her was a staircase that led up to the dark second floor, to her right was the kitchen where Nora, Ren and a blond man was putting the keg away and to her left was where the party was: the living room.

Blake quickly memorized the layout of everything. To the far end of the living room was the sound system, blaring a bass thumping tune that she knew she should avoid to keep her Faunus eardrums from rupturing. On the opposite side was a black leather couch that seated an already inebriated Velvet, Coco and a man who looked to be as tall as her father.

All of the lights were out except for a few Christmas lights haphazardly hanging from the ceilings, flashing and changing colors from red, blue to white every five seconds. Despite the low light, Blake could see everything clearly. Right in the middle of the "dancefloor" was Yang Xiao Long, golden hair, flushed cheeks and a wide smile on her lips, dancing ― jumping around ― with an equally ecstatic Ruby.

"Here, take a shot." Nora jumped out of nowhere, grabbed Blake by the shoulders and handed her a small glass of clear liquid.

"What is this?" Blake shouted over the music as she took a quick sniff of the strong drink, "Is this vodka?"

"No, it's water. You gotta drink it before you can enter the threshold. Them's the rules." Nora giggled when Blake silently caught her lie and pressed the glass to other girl's lips.

A shot wouldn't hurt. Blake threw her head back as she felt the drink burn its way to her stomach. That was strong. She held back a cough, afraid to show her gracious host that she couldn't handle her alcohol. People had a tendency to give you more if you tell them you don't really like to drink.

Nora happily cheered as Blake handed her back the small glass and she replaced it with an ice cold bottle of beer. Ren greeted her, the blond man behind him, and raised his bottle to her. The three of them stepped aside to let Sun, Neptune and Scarlet through with the beer kegs, directing the men to where Nora was pointing.

"This is Jaune Arc," Ren bent closer so she could hear better, his hand waving her gaze over to the blond, "Pyrrha's boyfriend."

"Hey!" Jaune waved his beer bottle to greet her, "You must be Blake. Velvet's told me about you."

"Nice to meet you, Jaune." Blake lowered her voice when the song ended and a new one came on, smiling warmly at the brief silence.

"Do you play beer pong?" Jaune asked her, pointing to a group of other people throwing ping pong balls in another room beside the living room.

Sun had now joined them, a beer bottle in his hand, "That's fun. Let's play, Blake. You and me on the same team!"

"Alright." she nodded her head in case Sun hadn't heard her.

They all went over to the beer pong table, waving at Velvet and Coco when they passed by the couch they were on. Blake didn't want to look at the dancefloor and have Yang see her. Worse yet, to see Amber around, dancing with Yang.

Blake immediately thought to hang around this room instead. It was far from the sound system and from the crowded living room.

Blake quickly left her half-empty beer bottle on a side table where nobody would see it. She had no intentions of finishing it since she was going to probably drink five of the ten beer cups and what would be left of Ren and Jaune's that Nora had refilled for them.

She was right. After all these years, Sun's aim had never improved and she had to drink eight cups in total. She had only scored two clean shots after Jaune had taunted them. Blake handed Sun the last cup with feigned annoyance at their defeat.

Pyrrha had appeared out of nowhere and grabbed Jaune by the scruff of his shirt, pulling him to the dancefloor. Blake watched as they went, her amber eyes had met with lilac. Yang was still dancing around with Ruby. The blonde waved at her and smiled wide and all Blake could do was smile before she turned away to grab an empty cup from the beer pong table.

 _At least Amber's not here._

"You should go talk to her." Sun whispered in her cat ear, his breath hot from the alcohol.

Blake shook her head and eyed the cup in his hand. He still hadn't finished it. She snatched it from him and took it all in one gulp. She looked up at him and saw the confusion painted clear on his blue eyes. It seldom surprised her how he knew something was wrong.

"I'm fine." she pulled him closer so she could whisper in his ear, "I'd rather stay here. It's really loud over there."

Sun quickly looked up at her Faunus ears and she flicked them against his eyelashes to remind him just how sensitive they were. He only grinned at her, "Want me to get her here?"

 _No._

"No." she shot back, handing him the empty cup, "Could you get me a drink?"

"Yes, ma'am." he saluted her before he went straight for the kitchen.

Blake didn't want to speak to Yang not because Amber had told her to stay away. No, she didn't want to speak to Yang because she didn't want to hear her voice, didn't want to feel how warm her hands were or see the sunrise in her eyes. Mostly, she didn't want to demand to hear her voice, to feel her hands and to look into her eyes, which is what happens when she gets dangerously close.

It was half-past one in the morning when most of the party-goers had gone home, all partied out, sweat and beer on their shirts and smiles on their lips. The last ones standing were probably the people who had agreed to help Nora clean up in the morning or were still a little less drunk than they wanted.

Blake had found herself seated on the couch, struggling to keep the leather from making uncomfortable noises that sounded like farts whenever she moved. She looked around at the people left, watching as some of them huddled together in discussions. Jaune, Pyrrha and Ren started straightening some of the furniture and gathered discarded plastic cups, but Nora walked up to them and swatted the plastic cup from Jaune's hand.

"Let's play a game!" she shouted over Jaune's surprised squeak, walking over to the sound system and turned it off to Blake's relief.

"Spin the bottle!" Neon shouted from her perch: Sage's lap, her cat tail caressing his neck.

"Seven minutes in heaven!" Scarlet fired back, cheeks red from all the drinking and dancing.

Blake wanted to sneak out of the house. Spin the bottle? Seven minutes in heaven? She knew it. She had been to enough parties to know where those games lead to. She shot a look at Sun who had been smirking at her this whole time. She knew what he wanted to do. It was written all over his face.

 _Dust._

Nora quietly left all of them in the living room, ignoring their game requests as she made quite a racket in the kitchen. Blake heard objects falling off of surfaces, cupboards opening, bottles popping off and the fridge violently opened and shut with a loud thud. Ren shook his head and returned to fixing up what he could before their host decided to return and make an even more mess in the living room.

After five more raucous minutes, Nora hummed as she walked out of the kitchen and out of the front door. Blake shot Velvet a curious glance, but the rabbit Faunus only shook her head.

"Doesn't she live here?" Ruby asked no one in particular.

The front door opened again and Nora still hadn't said anything, still humming a tune, her hand in a fist over something as she ignored them all to return to the kitchen. They all suddenly heard a blender come to life and Nora laughed maniacally over the sound of the machine.

"She is not!" Coco's mouth fell open.

"No flipping way!" Yang stood from the floor she had been seated on and looked at Pyrrha. The redhead had only covered her mouth with both of her hands.

"I'm back!" Nora skipped towards them, a large pitcher of red liquid in her hand and a devious grin on her face.

"We are not playing this game." Coco had now stood and shouted at Nora.

"Hand me that bottle, Jauney boy." their host said, pointing to the bottle in Jaune's hand.

"Don't you want to play truth or dare instead?" Pyrrha nervously tried to take the bottle away from Jaune, but Nora had wrestled it out of their joined grips.

"Form a circle, you pussies." Nora demanded. She gently placed the pitcher and the beer bottle in the middle of the living room. When everyone still hadn't made a move, she harshly repeated the order. She grabbed a plastic cup from a table nearby and plopped right next to Jaune.

With great hesitation, the others had joined them. Blake watched as Pyrrha took her seat next to Jaune, Neptune and Scarlet beside her. Ruby and Yang followed, then Sage and Neon. Sun pulled her to sit next to him and Velvet dragged an angry Coco. Ren was the last to sit next to Nora, completing their circle.

"Spin the bottle and truth or dare?" Nora grimaced, "We're not in high school, guys. I know you all wanna suck face and hope to get lucky with whoever you have the hots for. If you've got some unresolved sexual fucking tension, go do it outside of my house. I'm queen of this castle and I declare we play Death Spin Bottle!"

"Fuck you!" Yang shouted.

"Nora, please, no." Ren and Pyrrha said in unison.

"I am going to fucking kill you for this, Valkyrie." Coco huffed.

"What's Death Spin Bottle?" Ruby asked and Yang shot her a heated look.

"It's easy!" Nora grabbed the pitcher and poured the contents in the cup, "It's like spin the bottle, but it's always a dare and these dares better be fucking outta this world or else you drink this."

"Dare I ask what's in that thing this time?" Ren buried his face in his hands.

"Hmmm..." Nora happily grabbed the bottle and held it up to her chin, "Beer, vodka, some rum, tomato sauce, mustard, ketchup, a dash of salt, steak sauce, maple syrup, honey, vinegar."

Blake's frowned deepened with each ingredient Nora had ticked off of the list. Everybody else groaned and pinched their noses. Coco massaged her temples to keep her cool, Pyrrha looked as if she was about to vomit and Yang swore as loud as she could.

"And a handful of grass from the front lawn." Nora added with a cheer.

"Are you trying to poison us all?" Coco shouted.

"Hey, hey, all you gotta do is do the stupid dare so you wouldn't have to drink this. Simple enough, right? I'll start with something easy."

Nora ignored everyone's protest and everyone seemed to let Nora do as she pleased. This must be a game that she and her friends must have played before. Their host twisted the bottle on the floor inside their circle and cupped her face before the tip landed on Scarlet. Ruby sighed aloud to express her relief.

"Alright, Scarlet," Nora's evil grin widened, mischief in her eyes, "I want you to put some hot sauce in your pants."

"No fucking way!" Scarlet cried.

"Nora, no." Ren grabbed her arm, "Just no."

"Fine, ice cubes then." she pouted, "In the front."

"Still a no." Scarlet glared at her.

"Then you gotta drink this." Nora lifted the cup to Scarlet. He took one good look at it before he stood up to get ice cubes from the fridge. He came back out and showed everyone how he dropped the ice cubes in his jeans. Nora giggled as he shuddered, making his way back to his seat. "Okay, now you spin the bottle and dare someone to do something fucking crazy."

Scarlet took the bottle and spun it without much thought, all his attention on the discomfort in his man parts. When the bottle had landed on Neon, Scarlet smirked, "I dare you to dump a whole can of soda down your shirt."

Without a word, Nora ran into the kitchen and handed Neon a can of soda, "I'll let you borrow a shirt after we play."

Neon poured the drink into her top while everyone stifled their giggles and bury their smiles into their hands and shirts. This was all mildly amusing, albeit sadistic, but they were among friends. She had hated the usual games, always playing on other people's emotions for the entertainment of others at the expense of someone else's humiliation.

This was still humiliating, but at least they had a choice. A difficult one, but a choice nevertheless.

The next spin landed on Ren and Neon had dared him to sit through the rest of the game in his underwear. Ren only sighed as he undressed to the sound of Nora whistling at him. With less enthusiasm, he spun the bottle and it landed on a smiling Jaune, who thought Ren would never dare him to do something outlandish.

"I dare you to call Yang's uncle," Yang and Ruby cheered, Jaune's smile fell, "and start moaning."

"You've gotta be kidding me." Jaune argued. Yang already had her Scroll out and stood to give it to Jaune with an evil grin, "Ren, how could you do this to me?"

"It's either the call or the drink." Yang laughed, motioning for Jaune to press the call button.

Jaune stared at the cup Nora had pressed against his face, but pushed it away when he smelled the concoction. His finger shook when he pressed call. Nora shushed everyone. They all waited with bated breaths as Jaune frowned at them all.

"Do you know what time it is?" Blake heard an angry voice on the other end, Professor Branwen had been sleeping when his niece called.

Jaune flashed everybody the finger before he started moaning. Nora poked him in the ribs and the blond had only moaned louder and a little bit more legitimately. Blake could hear the man shouting on the other end, "Who the hell is this?!"

"Tell him you want him now!" Neon stage whispered. Everybody liked her idea and stared expectantly at Jaune who surprisingly complied when Nora raised the cup again.

"I want you now." he moaned again.

Pyrrha's face turned red and laughed aloud, breaking everyone's willpower to keep quiet. The last thing Professor Branwen heard was the sound of hysterical laughter when Jaune quickly ended the call after Qrow threatened to call Yang's father. He threw the Scroll back at Yang's waiting hands and slapped his forehead.

"He is gonna tell dad." Ruby told Yang in between her fits of laughter.

"Nah, is cool." Yang shrugged and opened the device, probably going to send an apology text to her uncle.

Jaune grabbed the bottle from the floor and twisted it as hard as he could. It landed on Coco. Jaune laughed menacingly, but when he saw Coco remove her sunglasses to look at him, murder in her brown eyes, he coughed into his fist.

"I dare you to rub your tummy and pat your head at the same time." Everyone groaned in protest, shouting "lame", "weak", but Coco had happily put her sunglasses back in place, rubbed her stomach and patted her head.

When Coco's spin landed on Blake, the other woman simply got up from her seat and went into the kitchen. Blake shot a curious look at Velvet when she heard the fridge open. A minute later, Coco came back and held something in her hand towards Blake.

"Eat it." she simply said, a coy smile on her lips.

"What is that?" Blake asked nervously, eyeing the mystery food.

"It's this or the drink." Coco moved her hand closer.

Blake stared at the thing in Coco's hand. It looked like food. Maybe it was food. Her amber gaze flitted over to Nora who held the cup in her hand, ready to hand it over to Blake in case she refused the dare.

 _I am not drunk enough for that._

She pinched the mystery food in between two fingers, flipped it over to inspect the "food", half-burnt but cold from days in the refrigerator, and slowly put it in her mouth. Everyone stared at her while she chewed, waiting for her to choke or say something. To Blake's astonishment, it wasn't bad. It was a piece of chicken with a slight aftertaste of raw fish and garlic.

"I saw that in Nora's fridge last week." Coco chuckled.

"Glad it isn't moldy." Blake smiled at Coco and picked the bottle up from the floor. Her spin landed on Neptune, "I dare you to put Sun's tail in your pants."

"No, Blake." Sun protested.

"I'm not doing that." Neptune shook his head, "I'd rather drink that than have him grabbing my nuts."

"Who says I wanna grab your nuts?!" Sun croaked, his face turning all shades of red.

"Then bottoms up, Neptune!" Nora jumped from her seat, hand around the cup and cheerfully pressed it into Neptune's hand.

Neptune smelled the contents of the cup then looked at Blake with a smug smile, "This is for you, Belladonna."

Neptune threw his head back and downed the entire cup. There were tears at the corners of his eyes as he tried his best not to vomit. He roughly handed the cup back to Nora who clapped him on the shoulder with a cheer.

"I made a mistake." Neptune gagged, but composed himself to take the bottle from Pyrrha's hand, "I'm done after this. That is disgusting."

When Neptune spun the bottle, his stomach couldn't take the taste of the drink. He slapped a hand over his mouth and made a dash for the kitchen sink. The bottle had landed on Yang.

"I guess the game's over." Yang smiled at Nora, victory on her lips. The rules were that whoever spun the bottle was supposed to give the dare and Neptune didn't seem to be coming back any time soon. That didn't stop Nora.

"I'm queen of the castle!" Nora announced haughtily, "What does Yang Xiao Long love more than anything?"

Yang's jaw dropped, her lilac eyes threatening to pop out of her eye sockets. Everyone else had giggled with oohs and aahs. Unconsciously, one of Blake's cat ears twitched in Nora's direction, focused on their host's words above everyone else's teasing. What **did** Yang love more than anything?

 _Don't tell me this is going to involve Amber._

"I dare you..." Nora drawled, her eyes narrowed at Yang.

"Don't you dare." Yang threatened.

"... to eat your own hair. Five strands. Down the hatch."

"Fuck you."

Nora grabbed the empty cup and the pitcher in front of her, eyes still locked at the blonde. She slowly poured the drink into the cup, making a show of it, the pungent smell and the sound of Neptune violently retching in the kitchen filled the air.

Yang kept her steely gaze at Nora as she plucked five strands of her long golden locks and balled them in her hands. Ruby nervously stared at her sister, her silver eyes darted between the hairball in Yang's hand and her sister's face. Yang kept her eyes on Nora as she opened her mouth and devoured the whole thing, only closing them when she forced it down her throat.

"You are going to pay for this." Yang raised an angry finger in Nora's direction.

Coco rolled the bottle over towards the blonde who had eaten her own hair, the blonde who caught it without even looking, who was still shooting the snickering Nora an angry look, and who had now twisted the bottle with its tip stopping to rest on their now terrified host.

 _Poetic justice._

"My queen," Yang teased, she was enjoying this opportunity to get back at Nora like it had been her destiny to do so, "I dare you to drink that whole fucking pitcher of crap."

Nora laughed, "That's stupid, Yang. If I refuse, I only drink a cup of it."

That was true. It seemed pointless, but Nora would still have to drink the horrid mix either way. Blake understood the nature of Yang's dare after seeing what a single cup did to Neptune. Nora had no choice but to drink it and she, too, would be throwing up in the kitchen. She would be out of the game.

"Then what are you waiting for, Nora?" Yang snickered.

Nora puffed her cheeks and stared at the cup Jaune happily held up for her. She had shot them all an accusatory look and finally giggled, "Et tu, Brute?"

Nora grinned wide and kept her eyes on Yang the entire time that she drank that thing. She didn't flinch at the foul stench. She drank every last drop, crushed the cup in one hand and dropped the bent plastic in front of her. She wiped her lips with the back of her hand and smiled. Ten seconds later, Nora bolted for the kitchen sink and everyone else had cheered that the game had come to an end.

Pyrrha patted Jaune on the back before she rushed off to assist Nora in the kitchen. Ren quickly stepped into his clothes and followed the tall redhead with an apologetic Yang who had bumped into a pale Neptune making his way back to the living room. Coco grabbed the pitcher from the floor and ran up the stairs to dump what was left of the drink in the toilet upstairs.

"You got me good, Xiao Long." Nora struggled to say in between bouts of nausea, "Dust, this is fucking gross. I swear we are never playing this game again. Somebody turn the music back on and hand the beers out."

Blake watched as Ren and Pyrrha walked back into the living room, handing out beer fresh from the fridge. She could still hear Nora heave in the kitchen and Yang's voice change between threatening and doting as she spoke to her sick friend.

Blake thanked Ren for the beer he had given her and took a long swig as she heard Pyrrha turn the music back on. She quickly backed away from the source of the sound, saw how Coco and Velvet did the same and went back to the black leather couch. Blake took her spot against the wall between the living room and where the beer pong tables were.

She pulled out her Scroll to check the time. It was two-forty-two in the morning and she hadn't gotten a single call or text from her parents. They weren't worried about her at all. Well, her father might have been. She imagined Ghira Belladonna pacing in their bedroom, about to call his only daughter when Kali placed a hand on his forearm and dragged her husband to bed.

"She's a grown woman." she could hear her mother's voice in her head, "She's rarely out anyway. She can come home in the break of dawn at least once in her life."

At exactly three in the morning, everyone had returned to the living room and jumped around to more bass thumping music. It was a little quieter this time and less rowdy than earlier with the other party guests. They were all too drunk to do any proper dancing anyway.

Neptune and Sun were waving their arms about and Neon and Sage were just swaying to the music, arms around each other. Coco and Velvet were still on the couch, nuzzling against each other with an unconscious Ruby at the edge. The music wasn't all too loud, but she was a little drunk that she hadn't heard the person she had been avoiding all night take notice of her.

"I can't believe you ate that thing." Yang appeared out of nowhere and stood next to Blake, a beer bottle in her hand, her cheeks red and a smile on her lips.

"I think it was a piece of chicken." Blake said, holding her almost empty bottle, "Hey, you ate your own hair."

"My hair is clean." Yang beamed, brushing it behind her shoulders for dramatic effect, "And I'd probably digest it so I won't worry about it in the toilet."

At the sound of Yang's laughter and her own drunkenness, Blake couldn't help but laugh along with her, forgetting the catastrophe that stirred inside her. How can someone talk about shit and still seem so fantastic? She was just relieved that Yang didn't mention fur balls and asked her about it.

"Why are you here, by yourself, in the corner, away from everyone?" Yang sang the words, "Are you not having fun?"

 _No._

"I am," Blake began, taking a small sip of beer, "but I just... it gets overwhelming. I just need a break. I swear I'll have fun after about ten minutes."

Yang raised an eyebrow at her pathetic attempt at a reassuring smile. She knew she had been caught red-handed. She was expecting Yang to walk away and enjoy herself at the party with the others, the ones who didn't have their backs on the wall, excluding themselves from everyone.

No. Yang moved a little bit closer, her shoulder only inches away from Blake's, her golden head tilted close to hers. She liked how Yang's blonde hair looked against her ebony locks. It reminded her of bees for some odd, drunken reason.

It must have been a full minute before Blake felt Yang's hand on her bicep, pulling her close to whisper in her ear, "Let's go someplace quiet then."

Blake felt her face flush and quickly sipped what remained of her beer to chalk it up on low tolerance for alcohol. She might need to dull her senses just to keep her colorful mind from thinking impure thoughts about the woman who was leading her up the stairs now. Liquid courage for the flighty Faunus. This was only making her lurid thoughts go from PG-13 to R-18.

The two women left their beer bottles on the next surface they could find. The second floor was dark, but Blake could see it clearly and judging by the way Yang had masterfully avoided a shelf and reached for a door handle, the blonde could probably see the area with her mind's eye as well. Yang must have done this a thousand times before.

"Let's leave the lights off, okay?" Yang whispered as she closed the door behind them, "We don't wanna get caught, now do we?"

 _Absolutely not._

Yang left her standing by the door as she padded over to the bed. Blake swallowed hard, her thoughts now beyond any rating scale she could think of. The heat was rising to her face and bubbling in her stomach. She was a volcano about to erupt. She wiped the sweat off of her forehead, pulled on her shirt collar to let a little bit of the night air cool her.

Yang must have noticed because she had opened the window and turned towards Blake, "Nora and I do this all the time."

Was she trying to be reassuring? That didn't help. But that seductive smile was on Yang's lips and there was a twinkle in her eyes that rivalled the few stars in the night sky. What was she supposed to do now? She turned to the bed, the pink covers looked soft and inviting. Should she go over there first or wait to be led over there? Is this romantic? When she turned to look at Yang for answers, she had found her wild mane of golden locks climbing out the window.

"Yang, what are you doing?" Blake said nervously.

"You said you needed a break," she was now completely out of the window, probably standing on the roof and peering at Blake, "so here it is. They'll never suspect a thing."

Blake wanted to throw herself out the window instead, ashamed of her lascivious thoughts about the blonde who was now holding her hand out to help balance her on the tiled roof. It wasn't steep and the grass looked plush enough to break their fall if they ever did slip. Yang quietly shut the window and sat down next to Blake, arms over her elbows.

 _Dust, I am such a pervert_.

"Sooooo," Yang drawled, "how've you been? I feel like I haven't seen you in weeks."

"We texted last Wednesday." Blake said dryly.

"That's different."

"I'm doing alright." Blake forced a smile, "Been busy lately. Sorry. Besides, you're always hanging with Amber."

 _Stay away from Yang. You'll only get hurt._

"Yeah, Amber." Yang just giggled. Blake couldn't help but stare at the blonde, seeing the way her rosy cheeks turned a darker shade. She must not have known what Amber had instructed Blake to do, "She's nice. I mean it. She's not racist too. I think you two would get along just fine." Smile and a wink.

 _Amber is not nice. She is manipulative and a silent fucking bitch. Why do you keep dating assholes you know nothing about?_

"Sure." Blake whispered.

They were silent for a few minutes. Blake watched the empty streets, counted the streetlights in the area, picked out which house looked a lot like another one, anything just to keep herself busy. She wanted to tell Yang about what Amber had said to her last weekend, but if she said anything now, would Yang even believe her? Probably not. Yang and Amber have been friends even before Blake met them. She was the intruder, the odd one out, the third wheel that nobody really needed.

But sitting here with Yang, the night breeze against their skins and the alcohol rumbling in their stomachs, Blake didn't feel like an intruder. She felt welcome here, right next to Yang, right next to her friend. That's right. Yang was her friend. Even if a friend is all Blake could ever be to Yang, she'll take it. Anything to keep the blonde in her life.

Blake sighed as she felt her world crumble. How can something that you wanted so badly last week hurt you this much right now? She wanted Yang close to her and now that the blonde had rested her head against Blake's shoulder, with the smell of beer and vodka weren't strong enough to dull the smell of apples, she only felt a heaviness in her chest. There was no joy, no fireworks, no heaven singing a chorus that could make the unbelievers cry.

"Are you drunk?" Yang whispered and it took whatever was left of Blake's willpower not to cry.

"No, just thinking." Blake didn't need to adopt her monotone, she had no energy to even try.

"What are you thinking about?"

 _I'm thinking about a kitchen, a beige couch with orange throw pillows, coffee and the universe that's trapped in your eyes._

"You know, just some stuff."

"Stop playing the mysterious card on me, Blakey." Yang giggled, "You can talk to me about anything."

 _I'm thinking about the sunrise of Menagerie that's forever in your eyes and how much it takes my breath away each time you goddamn look at me._

"There are some things that are different. It's the same, but a little bit different. It wasn't what I was expecting. Wasn't what I wanted." she thought aloud.

It was a stupid thought anyway, one that kept pestering her. Never mind that she might not have worded it properly. It's not like she expected Yang to respond. The thoughts of a drunk at three in the morning weren't exactly profound. They were ramblings of a fool. There was meaning in them, but no conviction in the delivery.

"Constants and variables." Yang declared out of the blue, "Factors. There are things that are constant and there are things that change from time to time. Like, there's me. I'm a constant and everything else about me is a variable, long hair, short hair, how I talk and stuff."

"Ever-changing." Blake added, "Never the same. Just like time, just like the future. We see what we want to see while something else entirely different happens."

"We want lots of things, Blake."

 _I want to hear you say my name. I want to feel your warmth around me. I want to taste the honey on your lips._

"But what if what you want is the one thing that makes you happy and time just had to take it away. You thought it was going to be a constant, but it turns out to be a variable. And you believed it for so long that you don't know what the hell is going on anymore."

Yang removed her head from Blake's shoulder and stared at nothing in particular, "You know, just because we want something, doesn't mean we need it to be happy. Sometimes, the pain of wanting something hurts a whole lot longer to tide over the good feeling it brings for the split-second that you have it."

"I don't know what to do." Blake admitted, out of context in their conversation, but completely within the one in her mind, "I thought I would know when it happens, but it's only made things worse. I'm just as clueless as I was four years ago."

"Nobody really knows what to do, Blakey." Yang gently placed her hand on Blake's shoulder, fire rushing through the Faunus' veins from a single touch, "We just gotta take things one day at a time. I'll help you through it, okay? I'm always here for you."

"What if I make the wrong choice?" Blake said, her voice devoid of the maelstrom wreaking havoc in her mind.

"You know, there really isn't right or wrong. Sometimes you're right, but to someone else, you're not. It's all a matter of living with the consequences."

 _She was never yours. All this time, you expected her to come running into your arms, but she was never yours. You're selfish, Blake._

Yang scooted closer to Blake, their hips against each other, as Yang tried to embrace her as best as their positions would allow. The blonde never owed her anything. She never owed her the future she had seen, the one she wanted.

"Are you gonna be okay, Blake?" Yang whispered in her ear, her warm hand rubbed at her shoulder to try to return some heat into her shivering bones.

"I'll be fine." Blake sighed, the words had tumbled out of her lips and cast out into the cold night air. "This must be boring conversation for you, huh?"

"No, actually," Yang whispered back, "Nobody really talks to me about these things, but I think about them all the time. It's a good feeling knowing that the thoughts in your head turn into real conversations. That they're real. It makes you feel, you know, less alone in the world."

"I'm always here for you too, Yang."


	11. Wonder Sheep

**A/N: I can't align right. *cries* I'm sorry. I said I'd get all the chapters up in 24-hours, but sleep beckons me.**

Hi, Yang. This is Blake. I wanted to give  
you your scarf back. Let me know when  
you're free.  
11-14-2016

Im free now Wer u wanna meet?  
Yang, 11-14-2016

Is Mercer okay?  
11-14-2016

Yup see u  
Yang, 11-14-2016

* * *

R u sure u dnt lyk Sun?  
Yang, 11-16-2016

Bcus u 2 wud make a rly cute couple.  
Yang, 11-16-2016

Yes, I'm sure.  
11-16-2016

U 2 seem rly tight u knw  
How long hav u known each othr?  
Yang, 11-16-2016

Since eighth grade.  
He actually had a crush on me.  
11-16-2016

OMG! HEARTBREAKER! WAT DID U DO?  
Yang, 11-16-2016

I told him no.  
11-16-2016

I am not a heartbreaker.  
11-16-2016

Y'd u tell him no hes hot!  
Yang, 11-16-2016

Then, why don't you ask him out?  
11-16-2016

Im not gonna take him from  
u blakey i wud nevr do such  
a thing 2 u Wat kind of a friend  
do u think i am?  
Yang, 11-16-2016

Im deeply wounded  
Yang, 11-16-2016

But srsly y'd u tell him no?  
Yang, 11-16-2016

I liked somebody else at the time.  
11-16-2016

Ur ex? Lol but u nevr liked Sun  
after him?  
Yang, 11-16-2016

Yes, my ex. I don't know. I just don't  
like him that way.  
11-16-2016

Is ur ex so fucking hot wats his  
name anyway?  
Yang, 11-16-2016

Adam Taurus. He was cute.  
11-16-2016

Pics or didnt happen  
Yang, 11-16-2016

No way.  
11-16-2016

Come on pls  
Yang, 11-16-2016

No, Yang, I am not going to send  
you a picture of Adam.  
11-16-2016

Pretty pls  
Yang, 11-16-2016

No. Not gonna work.  
11-16-2016

Even w/ sugar lumps on top?  
Yang, 11-16-2016

With a side of coffee?  
Yang, 11-16-2016

No. Not with all the sugar in Remnant.  
11-16-2016

And I don't like coffee very much. I'm  
more into tea.  
11-16-2016

Tea drinker!  
Yang, 11-16-2016

Ill jst ask Sun then  
Yang, 11-16-2016

No! Do not ask Sun.  
11-16-2016

Too late hes sending a pic now  
Yang, 11-16-2016

Please tell me you're lying.  
11-16-2016

Omg he is cute he looks like a dick  
tho y u pick him over Sun?  
Yang, 11-16-2016

He did not send you a picture!  
11-16-2016

He did :p  
Yang, 11-16-2016

Douche red hair, smug smile, horns  
seen it  
Yang, 11-16-2016

Which picture is that?!  
11-16-2016

Idk it looks recent  
Yang, 11-16-2016

Says the girl who dated a sadistic bully.  
11-16-2016

I told u I didnt knw cardin was a bully  
Yang, 11-16-2016

Im trying 2 forget I dated him, okay?  
Yang, 11-16-2016

Omg i feel so dirty i have 2 go bleach  
myself now  
Yang, 11-16-2016

Now you know how it feels.  
11-16-2016

Ok lets stop talkng bout exes now  
Yang, 11-16-2016

I promise not 2 mention Adam if u  
promise nevr 2 speak of cardick ever again.  
Yang, 11-16-2016

Delete the picture.  
11-16-2016

Now.  
11-16-2016

Lol nope u're not even in it ;p  
Yang, 11-16-2016

Yang, just do it.  
11-16-2016

Okok Ill do it 4 u.  
Yang, 11-16-2016

Im buying ur silence by deleting Adam's  
pic  
Yang, 11-16-2016

Thank you, Yang.  
11-16-2016

Im gonna ask Sun 2 send me a pic of  
you in hs ;)  
Yang, 11-16-2016

NO!  
11-16-2016

DO NOT DO THAT.  
11-16-2016

Yang, please don't. I beg you.  
11-16-2016

I'm calling Sun.  
11-16-2016

;p  
Yang, 11-16-2016

* * *

Yang, please delete that picture from  
your scroll.  
11-17-2016

No flipping way!  
Yang, 11-17-2016

U look so adorable! I want 2  
pinch your cheeks  
Yang, 11-17-2016

I feel like crying now so cute  
Yang, 11-17-2016

I WAS SIX!  
11-17-2016

And my mom told me to wear that!  
11-17-2016

U'd look good as a sheep Faunus ;)  
Yang, 11-17-2016

I am going to ignore that.  
11-17-2016

Please just delete that picture.  
11-17-2016

Lol nope  
Yang, 11-17-2016

Pretty please with all the sugar in  
all of Remnant?  
11-17-2016

Nice try but no im keeping diz  
4ever  
Yang, 11-17-2016

OMG. No.  
11-17-2016

Lockscreend it now everyones  
gonna see it  
Yang, 11-17-2016

OMG.  
11-17-2016

I am going to ask Ruby for your baby  
pictures then.  
11-17-2016

Ha u dont hav rubys #  
Yang, 11-17-2016

What are you talking about? She gave it to  
me last week. I'm her upperclassman.  
11-17-2016

Hu dafuq says upperclassman?  
Yang, 11-17-2016

Do not ask her dat  
Yang, 11-17-2016

I do!  
11-17-2016

Too late. I already did.  
11-17-2016

Im going 2 lock her in her room  
if she sends u a pic  
Yang, 11-17-2016

She wont b able 2 come out 4  
a month  
Yang, 11-17-2016

Do u want dat on ur  
conscience blake?  
Yang, 11-17-2016

Blake  
Yang, 11-17-2016

Answer me  
Yang, 11-17-2016

Dont ignore me :(  
Yang, 11-17-2016

She just sent me a picture.  
11-17-2016

Pigtails and a red wagon, huh? It  
suits you.  
11-17-2016

Im gonna kill her  
Yang, 11-17-2016

Lock-screened.  
11-17-2016

I wonder how u'll sleep at night  
knwing u sealed rubys fate?  
Yang, 11-17-2016

Like a baby, Yang, like a baby.  
11-17-2016

Shes gonna die of starvaton and  
boredom.  
Yang, 11-17-2016

Thats my sister and u dont care  
wat happens 2 her?  
Yang, 11-17-2016

*starvation  
Yang, 11-17-2016

Yang, I know you.  
11-17-2016

You're not really going to lock her in her  
room and let her starve and die  
of boredom.  
11-17-2016

Hehe tru dat  
Yang, 11-17-2016

So u gonna delete that?  
Yang, 11-17-2016

Not unless you delete that picture first.  
11-17-2016

Well then i guess we'll just hav 2  
start flashing our scrolls at everyone.  
Yang, 11-17-2016

Fine by me.  
11-17-2016

U better watch it.  
Yang, 11-17-2016

Goodnight blakey ill see u tomorrow  
Yang, 11-17-2016

Are you threatening me?  
11-17-2016

Sleep like a baby while ruby weeps  
Yang, 11-17-2016

Good night, Yang.  
11-17-2016

Tell Ruby I said hi.  
11-17-2016

* * *

Heeeeyyyyyy  
Yang, 11-23-2016

Hi Yang  
11-23-2016

So i gotta ask u somethin  
Yang, 11-23-2016

What is it?  
11-23-2016

Idk if u're gonna like it  
Yang, 11-23-2016

Why not? What is it?  
11-23-2016

Idk how to ask u either  
Yang, 11-23-2016

Yang, just ask the question.  
11-23-2016

Promise meou wont n mad me  
Yang, 11-23-2016

Why would I be mad?  
11-23-2016

Idk just knw dat Im asking u  
as a friend  
Yang, 11-23-2016

Okay. Go on.  
11-23-2016

Its all 4 science alright?  
Yang, 11-23-2016

Yang, what is it?  
11-23-2016

Im asking bcus im curious ok?  
Yang, 11-23-2016

Dust. I am not going to reply until you  
ask your stupid question.  
11-23-2016

I rly wanna knw ok?  
Yang, 11-23-2016

Promise u wont b mad?  
Yang, 11-23-2016

I dnt want 2 upset u or anythng  
Yang, 11-23-2016

Blakey u still there  
Yang, 11-23-2016

Fiiiiine  
Yang, 11-23-2016

Pls dont kill me  
Yang, 11-23-2016

I was wonderng about ur cat ears.  
Pls dont kill me i just rly wanna  
knw dnt ignore me forever  
Yang, 11-23-2016

I knew this was bound to happen.  
11-23-2016

U not mad?  
Yang, 11-23-2016

I don't see a question.  
11-23-2016

Ok can you hear out of them?  
Pls dnt kill me  
Yang, 11-23-2016

Of course, I can. Before you ask, I can  
hear from afar. I can even hear you  
breathing now.  
11-23-2016

R U MOTHSFYWAFH KIDDING ME  
Yang, 11-23-2016

You just shouted "what".  
11-23-2016

OMG HOW DAFUQ DID U KNW  
Yang, 11-23-2016

OMG STOP LISTENING TO ME  
Yang, 11-23-2016

I was just kidding.  
11-23-2016

NO SECRETS R SAFE  
Yang, 11-23-2016

I can't hear through walls, Yang. I just  
have really sensitive hearing.  
11-23-2016

U had me there for a sec jeez dnt  
scare me like that ever again  
Yang, 11-23-2016

I can hear a pin drop in a noisy  
room though.  
11-23-2016

I just know you'd shout "what".  
11-23-2016

Dat is so cool  
Yang, 11-23-2016

I also have night vision.  
11-23-2016

Thats it  
Yang, 11-23-2016

Your a superhero  
Yang, 11-23-2016

I calld it  
Yang, 11-23-2016

Haha what?  
11-23-2016

Dnt worry, wonder sheep i can  
keep a secret ;)  
Yang, 11-23-2016

Please don't call me that.  
11-23-2016

Ok "blake belladonna" u got it  
Yang, 11-23-2016

Good night, Wagon Girl.  
11-23-2016

Nice try ;)  
Yang, 11-23-2016

Gnyt  
Yang, 11-23-2016

* * *

Did u get home safely  
Yang, 11-27-2016

Yes. You?  
11-27-2016

Staying ovr at Noras. We r helping  
her clean up  
Yang, 11-27-2016

I could've helped too.  
11-27-2016

Nah is cool it's a known agreement  
btween me pyrrha coco amber  
nora and ren  
Yang, 11-27-2016

Thanks for tonight, Yang. I'm sorry I laid  
all that nonsense on you.  
11-27-2016

No its ok  
Yang, 11-27-2016

Dnt b sorry im worried about u. U  
never rly say anything and im  
sorry i never asked  
Yang, 11-27-2016

Thank you. I'll be fine.  
11-27-2016

Do u wanna tell me wat it is  
wats botherng u?  
Yang, 11-27-2016

Not now.  
11-27-2016

Im here 4 you ik? We're friends  
it might not mean much but i promise  
ill always b here 4 you  
Yang, 11-27-2016

It means a lot to me.  
11-27-2016

Gnyt blakey :)  
Yang, 11-27-2016

Good night, Yang.  
11-27-2016

* * *

Heyo wonder sheep  
Yang, 12-01-2016

Hi, Yang.  
12-01-2016

Do u wanna hang w/ me and  
amber later?  
Yang, 12-01-2016

Velvet told me u guys alredy met  
and talked da crap outta each other  
Yang, 12-01-2016

I can't. I promised my parents I'll be  
home as soon as my classes end.  
12-01-2016

Ok den do u want us 2 walk  
u home?  
Yang, 12-01-2016

Its gr8 exercise  
Yang, 12-01-2016

No, it's okay. It's a twenty-minute  
walk, Yang.  
12-01-2016

Don't worry. Sun said he'll come  
with me.  
12-01-2016

Ok talk to u later :)  
Yang, 12-01-2016

Take care, Yang.  
12-01-2016

U too  
Yang, 12-01-2016

* * *

Yang, why did you send me a  
picture of a dog?  
12-06-2016

Thats our dog :)  
Yang, 12-06-2016

His names Zwei  
Yang, 12-06-2016

Lol dad jst sent me a pic  
Yang, 12-06-2016

He is cute.  
12-06-2016

I kow u dnt like dogs blakey!  
Yang, 12-06-2016

Then why did you send me the picture?  
12-06-2016

2 bother u?  
Yang, 12-06-2016

It doesn't really bother me.  
12-06-2016

R u free this weekend?  
Yang, 12-06-2016

Sure. Why?  
12-06-2016

Then come with me and Nora 2  
rubys track meet :)  
Yang, 12-06-2016

Why not? I am her upperclassman.  
12-06-2016

And theres that word again lol  
Yang, 12-06-2016

Itll b fun convenient its in  
beacon too  
Yang, 12-06-2016

What's wrong with the word?  
12-06-2016

Yeah, pretty convenient.  
12-06-2016

Its just unusual haha  
Yang, 12-06-2016

Not to me, it isn't.  
12-06-2016

I'll see you Saturday then.  
12-06-2016

Yeah u too  
Yang, 12-06-2016

Oh and wear somethng warm  
Yang, 12-06-2016

Decembers a bitch  
Yang, 12-06-2016

Yeah, I'll wear three sweaters and a  
trench coat.  
12-06-2016

Lol I knw how easily u can get cold  
Yang, 12-06-2016

Not all of us are blessed with body heat  
like yours, Yang.  
12-06-2016

I know thats why i always share  
wonder sheep  
Yang, 12-06-2016

How thoughtful of you.  
12-06-2016

Thats what im here 4 :)  
Yang, 12-06-2016

Tell Ruby congratulations for me again.  
12-10-2016

U've already told her a dozen  
times already  
Yang, 12-10-2016

Trust me blakey she knws  
Yang, 12-10-2016

It wouldn't hurt to remind her.  
12-10-2016

Yeah yeah  
Yang, 12-10-2016

Did u get home safe?  
Yang, 12-10-2016

Yes, I am home with a brand new knife  
that I found sticking out of my back.  
12-10-2016

Ha ha thats not a good joke  
Yang, 12-10-2016

I'm safe, mom.  
12-10-2016

Blake belladonna i forbid u from  
stepping out of ur room ur  
grounded sweetie  
Yang, 12-10-2016

My mom never calls me sweetie.  
12-10-2016

She calls me honey.  
12-10-2016

And here I thought your parents  
called you kitten  
Yang, 12-10-2016

They did.  
12-10-2016

They still do sometimes. But that's  
pretty rare.  
12-10-2016

* * *

Blake?  
Yang, 12-14-2016

Yes, Yang?  
12-14-2016

How are you? :)  
Yang, 12-14-2016

I'm okay. And you?  
12-14-2016

Im good r u sure?  
Yang, 12-14-2016

Yes, I'm sure.  
12-14-2016

Well, I'm a little stressed with exams,  
but I'm okay.  
12-14-2016

Im here if you ever wanna talk ok?  
Yang, 12-14-2016

I know, Yang.  
12-14-2016

Thank you.  
12-14-2016

And you can talk to me anytime too. :)  
12-14-2016

BLAKE USED AN EMOTICON!  
Yang, 12-14-2016

Screenshot  
Yang, 12-14-2016

I gotta study now. You should too. Don't  
want your grades slipping, do you?  
12-14-2016

Hell no goodluck  
Yang, 12-14-2016

Good luck to you too, Yang.  
12-14-2016

 **TWO WEEKS AGO**

* * *

Merry Christmas, Yang! :)  
12-25-2016

Merry Christmas 2 u too blakey. :)  
Yang, 12-25-2016

How's Ruby and your dad?  
12-25-2016

Theyre ok how r ur parents?  
Yang, 12-25-2016

They're still the same. Dragging me to  
more company parties.  
12-25-2016

Thas good haha  
Yang, 12-25-2016

You okay?  
12-25-2016

Yeah im fine :)  
Yang, 12-25-2016

I can call you if you wanna talk.  
12-25-2016

No im good thnks blake. I'll talk  
2 u later  
Yang, 12-25-2016

Okay.  
12-25-2016

 **ONE WEEK AGO**

* * *

Happy new year, Yang! :)  
01-01-2017

Happy new year blake.  
Yang, 01-01-2017

:)  
Yang, 01-01-2017

How are you?  
01-01-2017

Im ok u?  
Yang, 01-01-2017

I'm fine.  
01-01-2017

Thas good  
Yang, 01-01-2017

Are you going to Coco's party next week?  
01-01-2017

Haha yeah u?  
Yang, 01-01-2017

Yes, I am.  
01-01-2017

Ill see u there then :)  
Yang, 01-01-2017

Yeah, you too.  
01-01-2017

 **SUNDAY**

* * *

 _Drafts: Yang, we need to talk. I feel like you're avoiding me. Did I do something wrong? I meant what I said that I'll always be here for you. Please, just talk to me. I miss you._

* * *

Four days, seven hours and thirty-eight minutes.

Blake sighed at her Scroll. It had been four days, seven hours and thirty-eight minutes since she and Yang last texted. It had also been thirty-nine days, fourteen hours and fifty-eight minutes since that night she and Yang talked on Nora's roof, the night that she knew that she had fallen in love Yang and had decided that she could love her without asking for anything in return.

The first few weeks since that night were difficult for Blake, but she trudged on. Yang was her friend, the person who had protected her from Cardin when they barely knew each other, the woman who had made sure she was comfortable, that she was safe, the one who always tried to make her feel better. Yang had given her friendship and Blake accepted that that was the extent of Yang's love for her.

 _It would be selfish to expect more._

So what if Yang would never know how her voice reminded Blake so much of honey, warm and thick; how her long,wild hair was like the sun that kept rising over the lilac skies of Menagerie's beaches trapped in her very irises? So what if Yang would never know the beige couch with the orange throw pillows that they would have in their apartment or how the coffee would smell in the mornings? So what if Yang would never know how she had seen the supernova in her eyes? So what if Yang would never know just how much Blake loved her?

 _Please don't slip away from me._

Four years ago, she would have called herself crazy for believing love can be found in a crystal ball. Hell, four months ago, she would have kicked herself for saying she was in love with a woman. Constants and variables. Blake, a constant, who once proclaimed that she was straight, that she would never like girls and that she was normal, is now in love with a woman named Yang Xiao Long, a woman she had seen in her vision that cost ten lien one summer night in Menagerie when she was sixteen.

She wasn't straight and Yang was a girl, but she was still normal. Funny how the mind of a scared fool works.

"Honey?" a soft knock and her mother called from the other side of her bedroom door, "I put your dinner in the fridge. Just heat it when you get hungry, okay?"

"Thanks, mom." Blake said dryly as she gently placed her Scroll beside her tea. Yang wasn't going to text her anytime soon.

"What did she say?" she heard her dad whisper outside. He married a wife with delicate hearing who bore him a daughter with the same gift, who was now twenty years old and he still thought he could have a private conversation with his wife right outside a wooden door, "That's it?"

"Shush, Ghira." Kali whispered back, "She can hear us."

"For dust's sake." Ghira boomed before he forcefully opened her bedroom door. He turned on the lights, for common courtesy, and gently pulled his wife to the center of Blake's room with him. They would be quite comfortable standing there if their daughter wouldn't invite them to sit on her bed.

"Mom, dad?" Blake's cat ears folded inwards, "What's going on?"

"We know something's wrong." Ghira announced, his eyes kept darting towards Blake's bed, making it known that he wanted her to invite them to sit, "We've noticed since Christmas."

"Honey," Kali stepped forward, away from her husband and moved towards her daughter, her hands poised to caress their daughter's ebony hair and ears― all four of them if the need arises, "we're worried about you. We were really taken off guard when we heard that our little kitten was being bullied so... your father and I have taken it upon ourselves to be more watchful, to be more mindful of you."

"You're spying on me?" Blake folded her arms against her chest and shot both her parents a suspicious look each.

"No, Blake, we're being good parents." Ghira now sat himself down on her mattress, careful not to sit on her toes and have her throw them outside, "We want you to be happy and to have fun and live your life so when you're not happy and you're not having fun and you're skipping dinners again, your mother and I began worrying. Mind telling us what's happening?"

"Do I even have a choice?" Blake sighed.

"Of course, you do, honey." Kali assured her.

"If you want to start dating," Ghira added sheepishly, "I promise I won't be mean. I'm your dad. I'm required to be mean and overprotective, but I honestly kind of want you to start dating. You're always staring at your damn Scroll, so we guess you **are** seeing someone."

 _Oh my dust, no, not the dating speech again._

It scared her to imagine what her parents would think if they found out that their only daughter, their little kitten, was in love with a woman. It took her four years to stop beating herself up at the possibility of being gay, but they were her parents. They had been incessantly talking to her about grandchildren, how Blake should settle down with a man and question her why she's never brought boys over. First of all, Blake did not want children, second she doesn't want to settle down with a man and third, she's brought Neptune, Sage and Scarlet over once. They were boys despite that none of them were her boyfriend.

"I am not seeing anyone." Blake fought the blush that began to creep at her neck, "When I do, I will immediately let you know."

"So you're not seeing someone now?" Kali asked her incredulously.

"Not even whoever you're texting?" Ghira was just as unbelieving.

"Most especially not whoever I'm texting." Blake sighed, "We're not even texting anymore."

"What happened?" both her parents said at the same time, worry in their voice. Why are they worried? Most importantly, why are they being strange while they worry about her?

"We just stopped talking, okay? Are we done? I'd like to go to sleep, if you guys don't mind."

"Honey," Kali said as she brushed Blake's bangs away from her face, "You know, your father and I love you very much."

"Always." Ghira added solemnly, his massive hand over her knee.

 _What is happening?_

"And we will love you no matter what." Kali pulled Blake's head against her breast.

"We read somewhere," Ghira chuckled heartily, "that you should be the one to tell us this because you'd probably be scared and it's not something that we should force you to say, but we thought you're probably scared because you thought we'd love you less so that's why you never say it at all."

"Ummm..." her parents wouldn't be talking about what she thought they were talking about, "What?"

"Honey," Kali said, "we don't want you to keep secrets from us anymore. We don't want to be the last people to know things about you. We're your parents. We may be the worst critics, but we're your biggest supporters too. We're always on your side."

"Let me be honest," Ghira inched closer, "you did pick a good one. She is quite the looker."

"Ghira!" Kali scolded her husband.

"What?" Blake half-sighed, half-shouted.

"Honey, we know. I've seen how you look at her since that time you came home in a mini skirt in the middle of November." Blake no longer fought the blush. Her father **was** watching her that day, "Your mother and I were just wondering―"

"When are you coming out of the closet, Blake?" Kali blurted with a mixture of impatience and affection that Blake did not think was possible, "We love you, honey."

"Now you don't have a reason not to bring her over." Ghira nodded. She knew who he was talking about. Who else could he have seen with Blake when she wore that damn mini skirt? "Same rules, Blake, home by eleven, not allowed up here, hands to herself and she comes over for dinner."

Blake slowly pulled herself away from her mother's embrace and moved her knee from her father's touch. They knew. They have had an inkling of it for a while now, have extensively discussed it with each other and have come to the conclusion that she might not tell them, so they resorted to fishing it out of her instead. But there was no fishing. It was all bombarding her with reassurances, love and acceptance. Feelings that she never considered her parents would still give her so warmly.

Blake could only laugh. Her parents loved her. They loved her for everything that they raised her to be, for everything about her that she feared they would resent. She was happy. Ecstatic. Relieved. Her parents didn't mind that she wasn't straight, that she loved a woman. She was still their daughter. They still loved her. She laughed even more at the realization that her parents had actually read something about the coming out process that she hadn't even bothered to look into. She laughed that her mother had said _"coming out of the closet"_ , that her father noticed her foolish decision to try and look good despite the chill in the air, that they both noticed she had liked Yang then.

 _Yang._

Blake could only cry now. The tears hadn't even bothered to wait for her laughter to subside before they fell from the corners of her amber eyes. Kali didn't need to step closer for Blake to bury her face against her chest again, to hold onto her as if she were falling off of her stationary bed. When Ghira harshly seated himself closer, in front of her, she threw her other arm around his neck and sobbed into the space between them. There was relief and then there was pain, the sadness of unrequited love.

"Honey, it's okay." Kali cooed, straightening her daughter's hair.

"We love you, remember?" Ghira kissed her forehead, "We always will."

"She's with someone else." Blake managed to whisper in between her sobs. She hadn't failed to realize that they were only telling her this because they thought she and Yang were together, that they expected her to tell them that she and Yang were in love.

Blake was in love. Yang wasn't.

"Have you tried sweeping her off her feet?" Ghira said, "Right under someone else's nose."

"That's not a very good suggestion." Kali chastised him.

"I have." Blake sobbed again. She remembered Sun's plan of swooning, making the gods cry and bending the universe.

"Blake, honey, have you tried being honest with her?"

"I don't want to lose her." She didn't. Blake Belladonna would do everything she could just to keep Yang around, just to keep her close. Even if it meant hiding her love away.

"Any more than you already are?" Kali had said it so softly that the weight of it caught Blake by surprise. She pushed herself away from her parents, to look into their faces, to let them see her puffy eyes, her tear-stained cheeks and her swollen bottom lip.

It had been four days, seven hours and fifty-seven minutes since she and Yang texted and even then, Yang hadn't been responding much to her messages like she used to. Kali Belladonna was right. Blake was indeed losing her and she never even had to let Yang know that she cared about her a little too much for friends, loved her so much more than the other woman knew. Yang was already slipping away.

 _I love you._

"Honey, I think you should tell her." Kali whispered, wiping the tears off of her face, "You feel so strongly for someone that it starts to hurt inside. You should let it out. It'd be even better when they hear it. Who knows, she just might feel the same way. If she doesn't, then it will hurt, but you won't have to hide anymore."

"She'd be stupid not to love you, Blake." Ghira tried to alleviate the mood and succeeded.

Blake smiled. Even if it was for the briefest of seconds, she still smiled despite the hollowness she felt. "How do I even begin to tell her how I feel?"

"You can start by not freezing yourself half to death." Ghira snorted. Kali glared at him and he muttered a quick apology.

"It's the most common advice in all of Remnant, honey," Kali's hand against her forehead was gentle, warm, loving, "but be yourself. You tell her how you want to tell her. It should feel right for you."

"Stop trying to impress her." her father said, "She shouldn't love you for the mini skirt or for anything else."

Blake bit her tongue and just nodded. She was tired of running away from her feelings, from her sexuality, from the Blake that she had tried to hide away in order to impress a woman who was now slipping further and further away from her. If Yang were to disappear, then she should at least know how she felt, know that she wanted to hear her name laced with tenderness and love, to feel her warmth around her, to taste the honey on her lips, to gaze at the endless skies trapped in her lilac eyes, to watch the eternal sunrise over and over.

 _Even if it's the last things I'll say, it's okay. I love you. I always have. I always will._

That very same night, in an apartment about a twenty-minute walk and a ten-minute bus ride away, Yang Xiao Long had been thumbing through her Scroll, reading the messages that she and one Blake Belladonna had exchanged since the Faunus had asked to meet her to return her scarf.

About a month ago, Yang would feel her face grow numb from smiling too much at the messages she and Blake exchanged, her rosy cheeks would be even rosier and her heart would race faster than Ruby Rose.

Since the day that she had saved her from Cardin, she promised herself that she would look out for Blake, that she would do everything she could to keep her safe. She was always worried and, oh, how she worried about the other woman. Blake was hurting and from the sound of her voice that night at Nora's party, she had been hurting for quite some time. Four years, Blake said to her.

And Yang never noticed.

 _You keep saying that you care about her, but you never once asked if she was okay. All you ever thought about was yourself. You're selfish, Yang._

Tonight, Yang was sprawled across her bed, a single bed with a rickety metal frame, over her cream-colored sheets and her orange pillows. She kicked aside some of her bunched up clothes at the foot of her bed. She made it a point to hang them in her closet when she felt like it. Which was going to be a miracle at this point.

 _I feel like shit._

Yang could never forget that night on the rooftop. How Blake's golden eyes glowed like the sun in the lowlight, how her black hair smelled so much like vanilla, how, even in her monotone, her voice sounded soft like silk. Even when her voice had been shaking and that the sunlight in her eyes was threatening to break and pour out emotions Yang had never thought Blake would hold inside, she felt silk.

She flipped over and buried her face into her orange pillows. Blake had opened up to her that night, had talked to her about the thoughts that swirled in her mind, her fears, her disappointments and Yang had found a way to lead the conversation back to her.

 _I never should have admitted it. I was fine before I had to think stupid thoughts._

She kicked the clothes tangling around her feet, tightened her grip on her Scroll and repeatedly slammed her head into her pillows. There was little pain, but maybe it would be enough to shake the thoughts out of her head.

 _Sometimes, the pain of wanting something hurts a whole lot longer to tide over the good feeling it brings for the split-second that you have it._

She had to talk to someone. She had to call someone. She raised her Scroll to her face, ignoring the locks of her golden hair that had gotten into her mouth. She glanced at the last text Blake had sent her before she opened her contact's list and began her search.

It didn't take long. Hers was the first name on the list. She pressed the call button, pressed the device against her ear and waited until she heard her voice.

"About time you called." there was that monotone again.

"Amber," Yang sighed, "I need to talk to you."


	12. Yang Xiao Long Pt 1

**Chapter 4.5: Warm Hands**

Yang had been up until two in the morning, finishing her homework and studying for two tests at the end of the week. Can you believe it? Two tests and they had to study more than six chapters to scratch the surface. She heard Ruby in the kitchen, pots and pans in a symphony of disaster. Yang wanted at least another ten minutes to reach sociable level, but the possible fire hazard in the form of her dear sister running amok in the kitchen was enough to make her roll out of bed.

Last night's study session would have been a breeze had it not been for the incessant ringing and vibrating of her Scroll. She reluctantly grabbed the device from her nightstand and opened her messages.

Four missed calls and twelve messages from Cardin.

Babe, please talk to me. I'm sorry about yesterday. It won't happen again. I just lost my temper. He was staring at you. What did you expect me to do just let him? Yang, answer my damn calls. Good morning, babe. Please just tell me we're still okay.

Yang sank back onto her bed, lilac eyes still staring at the messages. She was beginning to think that dating Cardin had been a big mistake. Not that she wasn't privy to making mistakes, but staying too long, hoping he was the good guy he made himself out to be was becoming more of a chore. But Yang believed in the goodness in people.

Cardin can't be too bad. He was sweet and nice to her. He does have a short temper.

 _So do I._

She sent him a good morning message and that they were still okay, talk to you later. She never expected the suave smooth talker who had bought her a drink at Junior's Club to be so clingy. That's not how Yang Xiao Long rolls, but it feels good to have someone sometimes. It was always a hassle picking people up anyway and her workload wasn't going to give her a break. She barely had time to hang out with her friends and they seemed to have distanced themselves from her this semester.

Coco was keeping secrets. In the rare moments that they would all be together, Coco was always on her Scroll or making up lame excuses to leave. They would all think that she was maybe just tired of hanging around them, but the blush on her cheeks and the smile on her lips were warning signals that Coco "the Big Bad Bitch" Adel was in love and she was not telling who the lucky person was.

Pyrrha was always with her boyfriend, Jaune, fawning over him, going at it like bunnies in heat. She had even pencilled his scrawny ass into their girl-gym-time, making Yang Xiao Long the third wheel of what once was their bonding period. Not that she was jealous. Not too much at least. Pyrrha had been the one friend she had had a lot in common with in their circle of friends and she had been moved to the side by another blondie.

Ren and Nora had always had their own little worlds, but ever since they started dating, they both revolved together in another galaxy entirely. Even when their galaxies intermingled with the entire group's, they were still trapped in their Renora vortex and only ever sucked in an outsider once in a while.

Last was Amber. She and Yang had never really had so much to talk about, but they found a similar trait between them: Mom Friends. They were both designated moms in their group, but Amber more so than Yang, who enjoyed being the irresponsible one for a change whenever the other woman was around. And now that everyone was doing their own thing, Amber was the only one Yang could call and actually expect to show up. Not so much these days with her schedule. She did enjoy spending some nights lazing about Amber's apartment when she and Cardin got into another petty argument.

Cardin had been her only companion since they started going out in the summer, but they barely spent time with each other since the semester began. They never see each other on campus and their schedules weren't compatible as well. When he had free period, she was stuck with a three-hour lecture in Willingham. They always had the weekends, but lately those weekends seemed to be dragging along and Yang had found herself, a dozen times, wishing she were in a three-hour lecture instead.

There was Ruby, but she was her sister. That doesn't really count. Not that Yang never enjoyed having Ruby around. She could never turn off her big sister/surrogate mom mode whenever the younger girl was around. It was automatic. Second-nature. It was once an obligation, but it had turned into a responsibility that kept Yang in line.

And big sister/surrogate mom Yang Xiao Long walked out of her bedroom, past the little corridor and into the kitchen where Ruby was. It wasn't as disastrous as she had thought it would be. It was still pretty bad though.

"Ruby," Yang groggily said, blinking fast to adjust her eyesight to the light pouring in through the windows, "what's with all the racket?"

"I didn't want to wake you." Ruby pouted as she accidentally cracked an entire egg over the hot pan, some shells falling into the mixture, "I wanted to make you breakfast."

"I don't wanna choke." Yang dragged her bare feet over the cold floor, gently took the pan and spatula from her sister's hands and fished for the fallen shells before they disappeared into what she knew was a sunny side up egg, "You have to break a line and pull the pieces apart, not punch a hole in the middle. Shells, Rubes, shells."

"I know how to cook eggs." Ruby straightened the toppled over salt and pepper shakers, putting them close to her older sister, "You just surprised me, is all."

"Go get ready. Breakfast will be done when you are."

Ruby mock-saluted her before she marched out of the kitchen, leaving Yang to take care of this morning's meal. Not that Yang was hungry in the morning. She rarely ate before ten. She tried eating before that once and she felt sick the entire day. That's just how it was with her. This was how it always was since they were kids.

Fifteen minutes later, Ruby, freshly-showered and dressed for another day at Beacon University, sat at the dining table, happily devouring the meal Yang had made for her. Though this was how it always was, Ruby never stopped telling Yang to eat breakfast too and the answer never changed.

At half-past eight, Yang and Ruby were sitting silently in the bus to Beacon. Ruby had her earphones on, hugging her backpack close and bopping her head to a beat that she could only hear. Yang giggled to herself and thought that her little sister didn't look like a college student at all in her white shirt, denim jumper and red sneakers. But Ruby Rose was a short young girl. Even if she dressed in a corporate suit, she'd still look like a kid.

Yang looked out the window. The clouds were thick and there were barely any people walking about in the streets of Vale. It was going to rain. She was just about to start rummaging through her bag for her trusty old umbrella, but remembered that she had broken it two months ago and was yet to get a replacement.

"Heya, Rubes," she watched as Ruby pulled one earphone out to hear her, "did you bring an umbrella?"

"Don't tell me you forgot yours." Ruby teased.

"I haven't gotten a new one yet. Mind if we shared?"

"It's big enough for all of Beacon." she fibbed. No. It was only big enough for three and that would be an uncomfortable situation if it ever happened.

"We have the same buildings today, yeah?"

"Sort of. I'll be in Bailey after the first class."

"Cool, cool."

The bus was coming to a stop. Their stop. Yang guided Ruby out of her seat and the two sisters got off on the sidewalk to begin their quick trek to campus. Commuting can be a hassle, especially when the weather was against you. Uncle Qrow lived in an apartment near Beacon and he had offered to let Yang move in when she was a freshman. Of course, Yang refused.

She was finally going to have a chance to live independently, to be able to do whatever she wanted whenever she wanted. She'd never pass up that opportunity just so she could get to school from Qrow's apartment in under ten minutes. Besides, she didn't want to live with the man.

He wasn't terrible. Not at all. He was caring in his own way and his blunt nature that completely contrasted their father's adoring manner was like ripping a band-aid off. Uncle Qrow was the living testament to the words cruel to be kind. He raised both Yang and Ruby to be prepared for the nastiness of the world and they both appreciated and loved him for that.

But there was one minuscule part of Yang that refused to love him entirely. Minuscule, but nagging. She could see it in his red eyes. It reminded her so much of betrayal. Not from him, but from someone who looked like him and her name was Raven.

Yang and Ruby hurried to Mercer Building before they would actually have to use Ruby's red umbrella. They made it in great time too because the minute that they set foot into the state-of-the-art structure, the rain began to fall.

"Let's meet here in two hours, 'kay?" Yang mussed Ruby's hair, earning her a groan and an attempt at a jab from her little sister.

"Stop treating me like a kid, Yang." Ruby groaned, "I'm eighteen."

"How old do you think I am, twelve?" she engulfed Ruby in a tight hug and stopped herself from lifting the younger girl up from the ground like she used to.

Ruby had a point. She was eighteen now, not eight. But she missed Ruby in the two years that they were apart. Yang had even pretended to be disappointed that her younger sister had asked to live with her when she got accepted into Beacon a few months ago, but deep down, Yang was thrilled. She even already got Ruby a housewarming gift weeks before she actually arrived and, of course, Ruby had gotten her a gift as well. Another keychain.

Yang watched as Ruby bounded up the stairs, waited until she could no longer see a single strand of black and red hair before she herself made her way to the end of the hallway, past the crowd that gathered outside of the lecture hall and sat herself down in the far back.

During the entire two-hour lecture, Yang had been constantly checking on her Scroll. Another text from Cardin, asking her to dinner after school. For all his faults, he did have some good qualities. Good looks and a hot body aside, he was a gentleman. Sometimes. Yeah, sometimes.

[ Sure, why not? ]

She replied. Five minutes later, she regretted it. She didn't want to see Cardin at all, but she didn't want him to send her a barrage of texts to coax her out. He tended to do that especially if Yang had decided to change her plans.

 _Fuck, he is needy._

It was way past ten in the morning and Yang felt the hunger vibrating in her stomach. She had five more minutes until Ruby was finished with her class, so she made for the vending machines at the end of the hall. It surprised her that there was actually a line of three people and at the front of it was a ginger-haired girl, freckles over the bridge of her nose and bright green eyes, still trying to make up her mind about which foodstuff she should get.

As a precaution, Yang pulled out her Scroll and sent Ruby a text to meet her out front and not to leave her. She reminded Ruby that she didn't have an umbrella and remembered to put a heart and a winky face at the end of the message.

That would have been good enough if it didn't exactly take a full ten minutes before it was her turn at the vending machine. She had already figured out what she wanted to get and what she wanted to get in the next three days with how indecisive the three people were in front of her. It didn't help that the vending machine was moving slow as well.

She sped down the hall. There was barely anyone to push past through, but the sight waiting for her at the entrance stopped her in her tracks. Ruby Rose was talking to a girl with long black hair and what appeared to be cat ears on top of her head. A Faunus. When the Faunus turned to smile at her little sister, Yang saw her bright yellow eyes. She was very pretty.

 _Oh my dust, Ruby, you're so gay._

Yang smiled widely, swelling with pride at her shy little sister who was talking to a pretty girl. She and Ruby had shared many secrets since they were younger. Ruby was the first person she had spoken to about her own attraction to other girls, the first person she shared her frustration with finding boys just as equally attractive. And Yang was the only person who knew Ruby liked girls as well, but her shyness had made her a dud in the dating department.

It was time to support her little sister, to help her break out of her proverbial shell. Ruby must have started the conversation, so Yang stood back a little and gave the younger girl a little bit more time to work out her Ruby Rose magic on the good-looking girl next to her.

When it was clear that the two girls by the entrance were about to step out of Mercer Building, Yang, who had just remembered that she didn't have an umbrella, broke into another run and shouted, "Wait for me!"

She snatched the umbrella from Ruby's grip to make sure they wouldn't leave without her. Yang didn't want to interrupt Ruby's flirtations, but she had no plans of walking in the rain and getting her hair and bee jacket wet. They were her favorite things after all.

"Guh," Yang wished Ruby would stop saying that, not in front of a pretty girl, "Where were you? You said you'd be here five minutes ago and I didn't want to be late for my next class and we were just about to leave, but I couldn't stop worrying and wondering where you were."

"Well, I'm glad I caught up to you then." Yang chuckled. Bless Ruby's little heart for always worrying about her big sister, "There was a line at the vending machine."

"Hi." a soft monotone voice said. Yang regarded their companion for the first time. She had been too preoccupied by Ruby's concern that she had forgotten to introduce herself to the Faunus.

"Oh, hello!" she beamed, "I'm Yang."

This was usually the moment that people responded with their names, but Yang was busy sizing her up anyway to even ask for it. This girl looked to be a few inches taller than Ruby and looked more mature in her all-black getup. Her boots didn't have heels, so Yang guess she was about four to five inches taller than her shorter sister.

"Yang," Ruby nudged her elbow, "this is Blake. Blake, this is my sister, Yang."

 _I already told her my name, Rubes. Real smooth._

"Nice to meet you." she smiled at their new friend again and decided to lead them all out of the building, "We should get going, you two."

Yang placed herself behind them and held up the umbrella for everyone. Walking side by side would be a little too crowded and she was the tallest, so her height wouldn't inconvenience anyone. When Ruby was nervous, she tended to fidget and anything she held in her hands turned into a deadly weapon. The usual victim was Yang's precious blonde hair.

The only thing they could hear was the pitter-patter of raindrops against the red umbrella. Yang wondered why Ruby wasn't saying anything at all. Shouldn't she be talking up the girl? Ruby had a lot to learn about dating. She was grateful that her little sister did finally say something, but rolled her eyes when it was about Yang's tendency to skip breakfast.

 _Great, now you're excluding her. Jeez, Ruby. You suck._

"I didn't want to be late, Rubes." she tried to keep her voice even, mature. She wanted to let Ruby know that she was not pleased with how everything was going.

Just as she had predicted, Blake had unconsciously moved further away from the shorter girl and Yang noticed the raindrops bouncing off of the Faunus' shoulder. She must feel like she wasn't welcome under the Xiao Long-Rose umbrella.

"Hey, you're getting a little wet there." she reached out and gently placed her hand on the other girl's shoulder and carefully pulled her closer towards Ruby, out of the freezing rain, "Move in a little bit."

When Blake turned to look at her, Yang tried her best not to smile like a damn creep and make the other girl think that she was going to be the evil older sister who disapproved of Ruby's dating preferences. A small smile will do. The threats will come later on when their relationship progressed.

Blake lowered her gaze and Yang could see her blush the moment the Faunus' arm brushed against Ruby's shoulder. Yang forced back a squeal by talking instead since Ruby was probably too shy to start a conversation, "So, are you new here?"

"No, I'm a..." Blake said, "in my third year. Political science."

"Me too!" Ruby finally said a little bit too enthusiastically, but Yang only smiled to herself.

 _Jackpot._

She quickly wiped the smile off of her face and replaced it with confusion when Blake glanced at her, "That's weird. Why haven't I seen you around? I've been to that building a dozen times for this imp."

"I'm not an imp!" Ruby shot back, "And you spent the last two years either holed up in the apartment or drunk every weekend."

Yang fought the urge to push her sister out of her own umbrella, "Not every weekend. Besides, I had to study hard and get awesome grades, Rubes. You would do well to follow in my footsteps."

 _Shut it. I'm trying to get you and Blake some alone time. Maybe she'll agree to tutor you._

"Yeah and your awesome grades flew out the window after you got a _boyfriend_."

That was it. Ruby had overstepped her boundaries. Yang never minded it when people poke fun at her grades. They're just grades. But Ruby knew how she felt about Cardin, knew that she had been trying to figure out how to break it off with him for the last two weeks and she had to just drop that bomb on her. Especially when she was just trying to finally get Ruby a girlfriend. It was time to turn on the big sister/surrogate mom mode.

"That's why **you** are not allowed to have a boyfriend until **after** you graduate." she pinched Ruby's cheek for good measure.

"Ugh..." Yang pinched harder. Ruby sounded like a twelve-year-old and it was completely unflattering. She even slumped like one after Yang retrieved her hand. "you sound like dad."

Yang snickered. She hoped that their little bickering wouldn't put Blake off of Ruby somehow, but even if it did, she would only try to reel her back in. The Faunus didn't seem too upset when Yang smiled at her so that was a good sign.

They finally made it into their destination, out of the rain and into the dry, but dusty, interior of―

"This isn't Willingham." Yang announced.

"No, Yang. This is Bailey Hall. I thought you knew." Ruby said.

"No," Yang panicked. She had checked Ruby's schedule, had almost memorized it. Today, Ruby's class was supposed to be at Willingham, "I thought your class was in Willingham."

"That's tomorrow!"

"Ah crap." she was right. Yang had mixed up the days. She hurried towards the room, ignored how her hair must have whipped Blake's shoulder, "I'm gonna be late."

She made for the door. She was going to get her hair and jacket wet, but she couldn't afford to be late to her next class. Professor Oobleck did not like tardiness at all. But Ruby had offered her the umbrella. Threw it at her actually, but Yang had caught it like a pro, bid them goodbye and sprinted out into the rain, protected by Ruby's trusty red umbrella.

 _This is what I get for trying to play cupid._

 **Chapter 5.5: Uncle Qrow**

Her head was pounding. The pain was hammering in her skull as strong as her violent thoughts. No, she had to keep it in check. Her hands were shaking. No matter what she did with them, ball them into fists, crack her knuckles, flip her Scroll in her hands, they would still shake. She was on edge. The fight was over. If you could even call it a fight. She hated this. She hated dealing with the adrenaline pumping through her and with nothing in sight to take it out on except Ruby. No, she would never hurt her sister.

 _Calm the fuck down. You're better than this._

Uncle Qrow was in the kitchen of his modest apartment. Off-white walls, maroon club chairs, a TV set in the living room, two bedrooms and a bathroom. There were only two picture frames in the entire apartment. One of them was Qrow towering over Yang and Ruby, his hand over Yang's golden hair. Yang was six years old then. The other picture was of Qrow, Summer and their father, Taiyang, holding a newborn Ruby and a two-year-old Yang. That was the first day Yang met her little sister.

She ran her tongue over the wound on her lip and tasted a hint of blood. She shot up from one of the club chairs and Ruby only glanced over from the other one as Yang made her way to the bathroom.

 _How the fuck did it get this messy?_

Yang Xiao Long has had her fair share of terrible exes, plenty of nights of bad decisions and hanging with the wrong crowd. Summer had taught her that people were good and often the bad ones are good people hidden underneath layers of anguish and problems of their own. But she never mentioned the remorseless ones.

 _That asshole even fucking blamed me._

She stared at her own reflection over the medicine cabinet mirror, stared at her swollen lip, at the blood ready to pool out of the open wound that Cardin had left her. It was a parting gift and she wished she could have returned it in kind. The perfect break up. And she thought she was going to have to hold his hand while he cried.

 _He told me he loved me._

She scoffed. Cardin had a twisted knowledge of love. If the initial plan of just telling him "it's not working out" had gone through, he might have begged her to stay with the same gentleness he had shown Blake earlier that day.

Blake had been shaking when she and Ruby took her away from Cardin. Even after that, she was still shaking, unable to say anything to them. Velvet said that wasn't the first time, that he had been bullying them for years. It wasn't just Blake. It was all her other friends as well. It must have happened to Velvet too.

No wonder the rabbit Faunus distanced herself from Yang when Coco had introduced them. No wonder Blake didn't reply to her when she had asked if her ears hurt. Yang couldn't help but think that the others thought she was just as bad as Cardin.

 _But I never knew._

"Yang?" Ruby Rose, soft, frightened voice and a hesitant knock on the door echoed in the small bathroom, "Are you okay in there?"

Yang pushed her hair back against her scalp, gently traced a finger over her wound and replied, "Yeah, I'm fine. I'll be out in a few."

"Okay. Uncle Qrow wants to talk to you."

Great. She was going to get reprimanded. Never mind that she had done it to protect someone. Her one act of heroism meant nothing to everyone. Not to Cardin who had the wind knocked out of him, not to Uncle Qrow who had to keep her from getting kicked out, not even to Blake.

 _Sometimes you're right, but to someone else, you're wrong._

The minute she stepped out into the living room, she saw Uncle Qrow's harsh crimson gaze on her. For the briefest of moment's she thought of Raven, but she pushed those thoughts aside. No point remembering people who never wanted to be here anyway. There won't be any gratitude for her.

"I talked with Oz." his voice was rough, like a can of nails in the washing machine, "Says he's gonna talk with your shitty boyfrie―"

" **Ex** -boyfriend." she let out a breath.

"You really oughta be more careful who you date, kiddo. Who knows what he coulda done to you?"

"I'm sorry, okay?" she shouted. Why was he still arguing something that neither one of them could change? She made a mistake. It's not like she didn't understand. It's not like she was going to walk out of this apartment and do it all over again.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, firecracker." gently, and in a rare show of affection, Uncle Qrow squeezed Yang's shoulder, his eyes briefly staring at the cut on her lip, "You did good, even if it wasn't entirely right."

She remembered Raven again. She had the same crimson eyes and the same black hair, but Yang never knew what her voice sounded like, what kind of person she was. All she had seen a was a worn photograph hidden inside an old can of biscuits in her father's room back in Patch when she was eleven.

"But still," Qrow removed his hand, "Oz still wants to talk to you in the morning, file a report or something. We'll get that punk's ass for all the shit he's pulled."

"Even for what he did to Blake?" Ruby reminded them that she was there as well.

Qrow turned towards his smaller niece. Ruby wasn't exactly his biological niece, but she was still family and he loved her just as much as he loved Yang. "Everything. Tomorrow at eight. You two are staying over."

"No." Yang said aloud. She was tired. They were all tired and she desperately wanted to be in bed― her bed. "We're going back to our apartment and I'll make sure we get to Beacon by eight."

"It's not very far, Uncle Qrow." Ruby stood up. Yang was glad her sister had agreed with her.

"Alright, alright." he turned back to the kitchen and reached for his Scroll, "You girls better take care, you hear me? You call me when you get there."

"Thanks, Uncle Qrow." Yang smiled.

The ride home was quiet. Yang kept her head down the entire time to hide her bruised lip. Not that anybody else really cared and it's not as if nobody who mattered didn't know where she got it. It was just habit. Don't give people a reason to ask questions.

After a quick call to Uncle Qrow, both girls went straight to bed. They were too exhausted to do anything else and Yang was too sore to insist that Ruby eat something. It had been a long time since she had actually used any of the kickboxing moves she had memorized as a child.

That was usually what happens when your dad was the instructor. Even Ruby could have kicked Cardin's ass with her short limbs. But they had both grown out of the sport and traded training for hanging out at the mall or going out with friends. Looking back, she and Ruby hadn't really had much of a choice in the first place.

Yang thought about taking it up again as she lay in bed, but her dad wouldn't approve of her training under someone else. She smiled at the thought of her dad calling her to say that he felt betrayed if she did sign up under another instructor, but it's not like he had a gym here in Vale anyway.

She thought about Blake. Would the other girl even talk to her the next time they saw each other? She wouldn't blame her if she didn't, but Yang wanted to talk to her. She wanted to apologize. Yang knew that Cardin would never do it himself, she knew that the school wouldn't even give him a chance to do so in fear that he might attack her again.

She thought about Cardin. She thought about how they had met in the summer, how he had been the only other person she spent time with. Sometimes he was kind to her and those were the only times that Yang focused on.

 _He told me he loved me._

Yang Xiao Long was a damn fool. Was that how love really was? Just a word you could throw around at someone before you tear their heart open and leave the pieces to rot on the ground? Did it mean anything at all to him? Did it mean anything to those that came before him? Did it mean anything to Raven?

 _Forget about her. She's gone. She doesn't give a rat's ass about you. She left._

Yang drifted off to sleep with good thoughts. Thoughts of nights in Patch, her family gathered in front of the living room fire. Taiyang and Summer were acting out the stories she had read for her and for Ruby, Uncle Qrow unwillingly playing the villain with less enthusiasm.

That was love. That was home. That was her family.

 **Chapter 6.5: Old Wounds**

At nine-twenty-eight in the morning, Yang had found herself in Ms. Glynda Goodwitch's office, writing a report that detailed everything that had happened earlier. Ruby had finished hers and gotten herself to class while Ozpin had spoken to Yang. No, while Ozpin decided to suspend her for injuring Cardin Winchester.

"You must understand," Ozpin had said earlier, "you exchanged blows with Mr. Winchester and he now has a ruptured liver."

"That stupid punk hit her in the face!" Qrow shouted. He stood behind Yang the entire time.

"It's protocol, Qrow. When students are involved in a serious fight― and this is serious considering both parties have sustained injuries― they must be suspended from the university during the course of the investigation."

"And just how long is this investigation going to take?"

"Until we can get the testimonies of Mr. Winchester's other victims. Which I hope to finish by today, if possible."

"Wait." Yang interrupted the two men, "Is Blake going to be suspended too?"

They couldn't suspend her. She was innocent. Sure, she pushed Cardin and he toppled over, but that couldn't possibly have hurt him. If Dr. Ozpin said that he had already spoken to Cardin Winchester himself earlier that day, then that smug prick must have told him that the Faunus had struck him down. He could have lied to get Blake in trouble too.

"No," Yang exhaled at Ozpin's word. That was all she needed to hear, "We will be calling her parents to inform them of what happened yesterday if she hasn't done it herself already. Judging from how long Mr. Winchester's terrorism has been going on, I doubt that she had told them."

"Let me guess," Qrow scoffed, "protocol?"

Dr. Ozpin ignored Qrow and looked at Yang, "You're not allowed within school premises for the remainder of the week. After you finish writing an incident report in Ms. Goodwitch's office, I would need you to leave campus immediately."

Yang hadn't said anything else then. She simply nodded her head, walked out of the president's office and was led here, to write the damn report that would be used against Cardin, in Ms. Goodwitch's office. It was a tedious task and she wanted to just get it over with, but Yang knew what was at stake. She couldn't half-ass this one.

She was just finishing up her report when Ms. Goodwitch walked into the room, her heels clicking against the tiles of her office floor. When Yang was younger and Qrow had taken her and Ruby on a tour of Beacon University, she had been terrified of the stoic Glynda Goodwitch. Years later, the older woman still scared her, but she knew she wasn't a bad person. Just not very friendly.

"Do I just leave it here?" Yang stood up from her seat and held the piece of paper up for Goodwitch to see, "I'm done."

"Give it to me." Goodwitch said softly then she pointed towards her office door, "Professor Branwen would like to have a word with you before you leave campus. He's outside with Ms. Scarlatina."

Yang thought about asking Goodwitch about Blake, but when the older woman glared at her for not following her instructions promptly, she kept her mouth shut, turned around and left the room. Out in the hall, Velvet pulled at the hem of her skirt while Uncle Qrow was at the far end, whispering into his Scroll.

Cautiously, she approached the rabbit Faunus, unconsciously, her hand went into her hair, grabbing as much as she could and tugged at it. Yang was nervous. Velvet had always been polite and soft-spoken, but not yesterday. Yesterday, she was mad.

But today, she didn't seem angry. She was nervous herself. Was she expecting to see Cardin or was she expecting something much worse waiting for her inside the president's office? Yang could feel her heart being crushed. Did the Faunus of Beacon University really think that they had no one to turn to when a human was mistreating them? That all they had to do was take it and keep hiding for the rest of their lives?

"Velvet?" Yang said softly. She waited for Velvet to acknowledge her, expected another reproach, but Velvet only looked at her for a second before her brown eyes found the floor again. "I'm sorry about yesterday."

"No, Yang." Velvet finally looked at her, regret in her brown eyes, "I'm the one who should be sorry. You were only trying to help. I just... I just needed to get Blake away."

Yang remembered how Cardin had grabbed Blake by her Faunus ear, how his other hand was tight around her wrist. She had bruises on her own arm underneath her favorite jacket. Blake must have had them too. She was trembling when she and Ruby had gotten her back to Bailey Hall. Yang wanted to hug her then.

 _And she was worried about my lip?_

There was a certain heaviness in the air and a loaded question at the tip of Yang's tongue. It was the question everyone wanted to ask, but she was scared to say it out loud. She had only met Velvet a few days ago when a reluctant Coco had introduced them. It had surprised her that Coco had been seeing someone, much more that the person she was seeing was a walking contradiction of the Big Bad Bitch herself. She had to try to make sense of it all.

 _He told me he loved me._

"Velvet?" Yang tested the waters.

"Yes?" she almost whispered.

"How long has this been going on?"

Ms. Goodwitch's office door opened and the woman herself nodded in their direction before she hurriedly walked out of the building. In the distance, Yang could hear her uncle struggling to keep his voice down as he angrily whispered into his Scroll. Barely two feet away from her, she could hear nothing from the rabbit Faunus who had turned away from her.

Of course, she wouldn't answer. Not to her, at least. She remembered how Velvet's eyes widened upon their meeting. She must have thought that being Cardin's girlfriend meant that she was just as terrible as he was. That is the rule of association and she had actually been seen walking around Beacon University with her hand in his.

 _I'm nothing like him._

"Since he came here." Yang had almost missed it when Velvet had uttered the words, her voice projecting the pain she must have felt, the terror she had to endure all these years. Cardin came into Beacon University the same time Yang did. Two whole years and nobody had done something about it. She felt sick at the thought that she knew nothing of Cardin's bullying.

Yang opened her mouth, about to lay down another apology when Uncle Qrow had pocketed his Scroll and approached them, his feet dragging across the tiles. Yang buried the thought of telling him to walk properly. He was a grown man. He could afford new shoes if he whittled his current pair down.

"Your dad's not happy about this, firecracker." he rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt, crumpling the fabric much more than it already was. Yang wondered if he had even ironed it before. "When are you gonna stop getting mixed up in all sorts of trouble?"

She bit her tongue. He had been talking to her father. He must have told him about everything, about yesterday, about last night and about how she had just gotten suspended. She had been planning to call her father as soon as she got back to the apartment, to tell him herself, but Qrow beat her to the punch and now Taiyang would jump into whatever outrageous conclusions his mind could come up with.

"Give me a break, Uncle Qrow!" she can't believe they were even having this conversation again, "He punched me in the face first. It's called self-defense."

"It's Professor Branwen in school, kid. And I was talking about you dating that sorry piece of trash."

Yang wanted to bang her head against the wall. Of course, they would talk about her ex-boyfriend and the fact that he was even her boyfriend in the first place, "Well, I didn't... really know..."

 _He told me he loved me._

She flicked her tongue across the cut on her lip. It still stung from the blow that Cardin had thrown at her. She turned to Velvet and wondered if he had ever hit her, if he had hurt her in any way. "I'm really sorry, Velvet."

The rabbit Faunus only shook her head to comfort her, "It's not your fault, Yang. Coco never really―"

"Well, she's finally out!" Uncle Qrow looked past the two girls, his crimson eyes trained at someone behind them.

Yang and Velvet turned at the same time to look at Blake emerging from Ozpin's office. Yang tried to smile as she observed the cat Faunus. She noticed how her arms had been covered to hide the bruises that Cardin must have left, how she looked paler than she remembered and how she refused to look at her.

She saw Blake's lips move, but Yang could only hear Velvet who had inched closer towards the other Faunus, "We'll talk more next time, okay? Again, I'm sorry about yesterday and thank you."

"No prob, Bob." Yang winked and tried to laugh at her own joke, but the pain on her lip reminded her that she couldn't even smile.

She watched Velvet squeeze Blake's shoulder before she walked into Dr. Ozpin's office. She watched as Blake stood still, her yellow eyes staring at something at her feet. Yang could feel a tightening in her chest again. Was Blake mad at her?

She stepped closer, planting her feet firmly in front of Blake's. She opened her mouth, ignored the sting on her lip and was about to say the apology she had practiced since she woke up when Uncle Qrow's hand fell on the Faunus' shoulder.

"So, you're the girl that got my niece decked in the face." Yang's eyes narrowed to slits, "It's nice to finally meet'cha."

Before Qrow could say anything more, Goodwitch had returned and told him to get back to work. Behind Goodwitch was guy Yang could only describe as gorgeous. He had spiky blond hair, eyes as blue as the sky, broad, muscled shoulders... and a tail.

Yang couldn't help but stare. The tailed Faunus was speaking to Blake anyway, so he wouldn't notice her staring, but Yang still knew it was rude and hoped that Goodwitch didn't see her. She looked up at his face again and saw his blue eyes moving back and forth between herself and the cat Faunus next to her. Then a thought occurred to her.

 _Is this her boyfriend?_

There was a staring contest happening and all five of them were participating in it. She hummed when Goodwitch cleared her throat and Uncle Qrow groaned. She wasn't sure who they were wordlessly reprimanding with the noises they were making.

"Don't get any ideas, Wukong. That's my niece." Yang rolled her eyes. She didn't assume he was checking her out because Uncle Qrow could do all of the assuming for her. He loved being the macho cool guy to scare everyone.

When they were finally alone, Yang decided that she had to say something to her, to show that she wasn't in cahoots with Cardin the entire time, that she wasn't a terrible person. Should she apologize first? Would it be wrong to hug her at this point? She didn't even know if Blake wanted to talk to her or not. A hug would be too forward. Maybe something else.

"So," she tried to say casually, "how you doing? Ozpin didn't give you a hard time, did he?"

 _Real smooth, Xiao Long._

"No, he didn't." she said dryly. Yang felt the tightening again, but when Blake looked at her, she felt her courage return. In this proximity, Blake's eyes didn't look yellow at all. It was darker. Richer. Like gold.

"You got sent home too, huh?" she stepped closer. Blake's voice was too soft for Yang to hear clearly and they had barely known each other for her to ask the cat Faunus to speak louder. Would it be rude if she did?

"Yes." Blake nodded, "Dr. Ozpin said my parents would want to talk to me."

They talked for a while and Yang was glad that Blake talked a little bit more. She had apologized about Cardin, tried to convince her that not everyone was a racist prick like him. She told her about how she and Ruby went straight to Qrow's apartment after Velvet took Blake home.

And then she laughed.

Yang had spent the entire conversation just trying to draw out a smile, but she had successfully made the other girl laugh. She liked it. She liked how Blake's lips looked when she smiled and how her eyes looked like gold that glinted in the light. She wanted to try and make her laugh again, but the sound of a ringing Scroll interrupted her thoughts.

Blake suddenly turned away as she answered the call. Yang automatically moved a few paces back to give her some space. It must have been her parents. Yang pulled out her own Scroll, almost dropped her scarf, to see if her dad had called or left a message. The device had been off the entire time. She tried to power it back on, but the screen still reflected her face, her swollen lip clear as day. She forgot to charge it last night.

Perfect. Her dad must think she was avoiding him now. She had to get back to her apartment before he would call to tell her that he was already halfway to Vale. She dropped the device into her bag and waited for Blake to finish. It's nothing more than paperweight at this point.

"I have to go." she said.

Yang walked up to her and tried to smile. There was the pain again. Her dad could wait another hour, she thought. She had to convince Blake that not all humans were bad, that she wasn't bad. She was also worried that Cardin might be lurking outside the campus, waiting for another chance to hurt her again.

She couldn't help but remember how Blake had held onto her yesterday, keeping herself up, her knees buckling. She remembered the ripped cardigan and Velvet's words.

 _How long has this been going on? Since he came here._

"Want me to walk you home?" there was no way she would let him hurt her again. Not while she was around.

"Don't you have classes?" Blake raised an eyebrow and Yang saw a glimmer in her golden eyes.

 _This is embarrassing._

"I do," her hand found its way to her hair again and she had only realized it after she had given one soft pull, "but I got suspended so I have to leave campus."

"You were suspended?" Blake asked incredulously.

"Well, I kinda hit Cardin a little too hard. Twice." she reminded her, "So, he kinda can't breathe well and he kept repeating something about a ruptured liver to Ozpin when they talked. So, I got suspended."

"You're not going to be expelled too, are you?"

"What?" she must have asked Ozpin what was going to happen to Cardin and he must have told her that he was going to be expelled, "Me? No. It's just, with the investigation still happening, I have to not be here. Uncle Qrow and I tried to fight it, but Ozpin says it's protocol or something, said it was only fair."

The pained look on Blake's face reminded Yang so much of how Ruby would look when she was denied a cookie when they were younger. So far, Blake and Ruby had a lot in common. She couldn't help but smile― well, tried to anyway ― as she tried to reassure the girl and cracked a joke about Ozpin calling security if she didn't leave.

Blake told her that the walk to her house took twenty minutes. Yang just brushed it off. She needed the exercise anyway. She had to cancel her girl-gym-time with Pyrrha that morning so she could meet with Dr. Ozpin. Although she should stop calling that now because Jaune had wormed his way into the only time she had with the redhead. She was kind of glad that she didn't spend the entire morning rolling her eyes at the couple who thought they were being discreet.

"Thank you for yesterday," Blake said. Yang was about to smile, but the other girl's next words slammed that out of her face, "and I'm sorry about Cardin."

Yang didn't want to talk about him at all, but Blake pressed on. She asked her how they met and Yang thought it was best to just be honest with as little detail as possible, hoping that Blake would just drop it, but her tongue slipped and she added a little bit too much information, "You may not believe it, but he seemed really nice then. Sweet, too."

 _He told me he loved me._

"I can't imagine Cardin being nice and sweet." Of course, she wouldn't. He had been hurting her, humiliating her and making her life a living hell and all she had been trying to do was just get an education just like everyone else.

Yang forced herself to laugh, "You know, looking back, I think I just felt lonely. That's what isolation does to you. Haven't you ever dated someone you thought was nice and sweet, but they turned out to be a dick?"

This was it. This was a chance to get to know her a little bit more. Everyone has skeletons in their closets and a few regrets buried in their memories. Blake must have one too. She was a stunning girl, anyone with eyes can see that. She must have had a few relationships in the past.

"I have." she said dryly.

That seemed like all she was about to say, but that wasn't enough for Yang. She had to make sure that a crazy ex wouldn't start getting in the way of her plans to get Ruby and the cat Faunus together, "Oooh. Do tell."

"I dated this guy in high school. I thought it was meant to be, but he turned out to be a dick too."

"What'd he do? Come on, tell me. This is what friends do, talk about their crappy exes."

 _Yes, I am your friend. I am not your enemy._

"Well, whenever I did something he didn't like, he'd threaten to break up with me. You know, guilt trip? Conditioning someone that they couldn't live without them. In the end we broke up."

"His loss."

Yang bit her tongue. That sounded a little too suggestive. She kept walking when Blake stopped to look at her. She didn't want the other girl to see her trying to come up with an excuse. That wasn't how Yang Xiao Long rolled. She was smooth, maybe a little too much.

 _Turn off your flirtatious ways for five fucking seconds. Fuck. Talk about that hot guy earlier._

She could feel heat rising to her cheeks as she turned to look at Blake, "You've definitely moved on to that hot guy with the tail earlier."

If he was her boyfriend, he wouldn't openly ogle Yang in front of her, would he? He looked really concerned for the cat Faunus earlier, but he could just be a friend. This did not look too good for Ruby. She couldn't even deal with talking to anyone by themselves, but to have to deal with a boyfriend? Yang had to find out for sure.

"Sun?" Blake's golden eyes widened and her face was beet red. Yang knew she forced herself to laugh, "No, we're just friends."

She narrowed her lilac eyes and studied Blake closely. She had seen this type of thing happen before. It happened to Nora and Ren and it had happened to Pyrrha and Jaune. Look at them now. You don't hang around a really hot guy with gorgeous blue eyes and just call him your friend. There were only two possibilities: a) Blake liked Sun, but he did not like her; and b) Blake was gay and that she did not like Sun and that meant she could like Ruby.

The cat Faunus was fidgeting under her scrutiny. Yang even thought that she was shaking from nervousness, but she felt the wind knock her golden curls out of place and realized that Blake must be feeling cold. She switched her mom mode on, pulled the scarf she wasn't using and teasingly walked towards the nervous mess in front of her.

"Right." she wanted to sound as disbelieving as possible, wrapping the scarf around the other girl's neck as if she was her younger sister, "Don't worry, he's all yours. If you want, I can help you two together."

Yang winked at her, out of habit. She could always charm the answers out of anyone and this girl standing in front of her was no exception. Yang Xiao Long will get her answers. She stood beside Blake and fought back the laughter rumbling in her stomach.

"I'm not into that." Blake rapidly said, her face flushing even more.

"So, you're into girls then?" This was it. There was only one choice left. All Blake had to do was just say it.

"No!" the other shot back, "I'm not... _comfortable_ with that."

 _Holy mother of dust._

Yang didn't know if she should turn around and leave or stay. She looked at Blake instead. She wasn't _comfortable_ with that?

 _You don't like gay people._

"You don't like gay people." Dust, she had said it out loud.

This entire conversation was painful for the both of them. This whole time, Yang was trying to figure out if Ruby would have any problems with Blake and now she says that she doesn't like gay people like some nun in the middle ages. She wasn't even sure if Blake was being sincere when she had asked how to tell if someone was gay.

Could it be that she was confused? Yang remembered what it was like when she was starting to realize that she liked girls, but she didn't act the way Blake was acting now. She spared the cat Faunus a long explanation and just told her that love was love and that should be the end of it.

She didn't want to hear anymore. She didn't even want to talk anymore. This was unbearably painful and awkward. Blake tried small talk, had asked her if she was cold. No, Yang was rarely cold and that scarf was mostly for Ruby. Maybe she'd start wearing it in December, but the chill in the air never really bothered her.

"Yang?" Blake suddenly asked after another round of silence, "Dr. Ozpin mentioned a witness named Ms. Rose earlier and I was wondering if you knew who that was."

"Oh, that's Ruby." Yang laughed. Ruby mustn't have told her about her last name and she remembered that Ruby never mentioned hers either, "I know what you're thinking. Ruby and I aren't really sisters. We have different moms. I got our dad's last name and Ruby got mom's."

Used to be, Yang needed a whole paragraph to explain the whole thing, but after years and years of repeatedly explaining the reason why she and her sister had different last names, she had learned to narrow it down to three short sentences.

"Her mom's, if we're being specific." Yang added, "Ruby Xiao Long doesn't really roll off the tongue."

"I hope you don't mind me asking, but what about your mom?"

This was the part of the conversation that Yang had always dreaded. Whenever she mentioned that she and Ruby had different mothers, people would always ask about what happened to each of them and neither stories made for good conversation with people that you had just met.

"She bailed on me and dad." Yang knew she didn't owe Blake an explanation, but the other girl seemed to want to know. Most people would just drop the entire thing and probably pretend like it never really existed, like there was nothing wrong. But there was something wrong. She had no recollections of her own mother. "I didn't even know about her until after Ruby's mom died."

But Yang had thousands of memories of Summer Rose, the super mom who baked cookies, who had treated her like her own daughter and who loved her so that Yang would never have to know the heartache of Raven's departure. There were good memories and there were the bad ones and Yang was trapped in the day she died.

She remembered everything. She rarely thought about it, but whenever she did, she could see it as if she was still right then and there. It was raining that night and the floor was cold against her little feet. She remembered the pajamas she was wearing, Uncle Qrow's shaking voice when he had knocked on her and Ruby's room, how Taiyang knelt beside the bed, tears pouring from his eyes. What broke her heart was the way Ruby had gotten up on the bed and curled up beside her mother, unaware that she was already gone.

Yang didn't shed a single tear that night or the night after that. She had been holding onto the hope that Summer was hiding behind a tree, waiting for them to find her and that they would play hide and seek like they used to. But when she stood at the funeral service, watched as the casket was being lowered into the ground, she knew that Summer Rose was never coming back. It was only then that she allowed herself to cry.

There were no more cookies, no more bedtime stories by the fire. The warmth of Summer Rose was gone and Yang had tried her hardest to take care of Ruby the way Summer had taken care of her.

She turned to the cat Faunus beside her. Blake was silent. This wasn't new to Yang. She has had this conversation dozens of times with dozens of other people before. She knew Blake was trying to find the right words to say, but that she couldn't find it, so she had to spare the poor girl.

"Don't feel bad, Blakey." Yang softly said, "It happened a long, long time ago. The first few months were total shit, but we're all over it now."

"Still, I'm sorry." Blake murmured.

"It's cool. Dad says it's good to talk about it sometimes." Although she didn't recall when the last time was that she had told someone her sob story of missing mothers. This was the first time that she and Blake had an actual conversation and she didn't want to lay all of her misery on the poor girl. She felt a little bit better that Blake had actually offered to listen if Yang felt the need to talk about it at length.

 _Maybe someday._

She figured they were nearing Blake's house when she had started digging into her bag. A key maybe? She couldn't help but notice that the other girl had produced a single key. It was small and it didn't have a keychain attached to it. Yang giggled to herself.

"You don't have a keychain?" she asked when she saw Blake's golden eyes. Yang felt a tingle run up her spine and her throat go dry.

"No, I keep―"

"Blake!" Yang turned to the source of the most ferocious sound she had ever heard in her twenty years of existence. She saw a man, probably eight feet tall, fast approaching them, murder in his golden eyes and she was the next victim. "Get inside now."

"Dad!" Blake groaned.

Yang's eyes widened. This was Blake's father? He looked big enough to be two father's stacked on top of each other.

"You." Yang's heart skipped a beat, "You better run along, _human_."

"Dad, don't be―"

"It's okay." Yang squeaked. She did not want to die today. She was too young. She slowly backed away, watching if this hulking man would pounce on her, "I have to go home anyway. Bye."

She quickly turned around and prayed that he wouldn't drag her back. She walked as fast as she could. When they were out of her sight, Yang made a run for the nearest bus stop she could find. She didn't care where the next bus was going so long as it took her far from there.

 _Ruby is not going to like this._


	13. Yang Xiao Long Pt 2

**Chapter 7.5 : Restroom Shenanigans**

"What do you mean she's not your type?" Yang glared at her younger sister who was flipping through channels on the TV again, "She is gorgeous!"

Ruby sat in the living room, on the black couch that Yang had bought at a yard sale the summer she had moved to Vale. She had gotten it at a discount too after she had extensively flirted with its previous owner and pulled her shirt down a little to show off her cleavage. Best coupon ever.

"I just don't see it happening." Ruby said dryly. She knew Yang had been cooped up in the apartment for the past four days after she had been suspended. Yang knew that Ruby knew that she was bored and had turned to annoying her to pass the time.

"That's because you don't see the spark that I see." Yang cocked an eyebrow and Ruby had only shot her an angry sideways glance before the younger girl returned to her ritual of summoning the perfect show or movie to watch, "You should ask her to hang out or something. Oh, oh, why not borrow one of her notes, huh? It's a great setup!"

"That is stupid." Ruby snorted, "Yang, please. I'm perfectly capable of finding a girlfriend on my own when the time is right."

"Time is passing you by, Ruby-boobies. While you sit here and pretend that there is actually something good on TV today, some creepy dude is asking Blake out."

Ruby shut off the TV and tossed the remote to the farthest end of the couch. She got up, stood as tall as she could, which wasn't as intimidating as she wanted to seem because Yang will always be inches taller than her, but she had that smirk on her face and ignored their height difference.

"And why, do you think, should I ask Blake out?" the younger girl drawled, her silver eyes displaying mischief.

Yang folded her arms over her chest and stood at her full height. She didn't need to, but when you challenge Yang Xiao Long, she never backs down, "She's hot. You've seen her, Rubes, she is gorgeous. Don't tell me you didn't check out her booty because that, by itself, is a masterpiece. And before you start saying I only care about looks, I went ahead and checked out her personality. How 'bout that?"

"Wow, thank you," Ruby pushed past Yang and proceeded towards the kitchen area, "look at me walking away in the middle of this conversation."

Yang was just about to open her mouth, to rain down terror on her little sister when she heard her Scroll ringing in her room. She raised a threatening finger at Ruby before she stalked away to grab the device hidden underneath her pillows. She looked at the screen, saw Pyrrha's name and answered with a cheery tone.

"What's up, Nikos?" Yang walked back out, saw Ruby drinking milk out of the carton and shot her a furious look, which the younger girl kind of ignored.

"How are you?" Pyrrha said through the receiver.

"I'm good. How's academia?" Yang joked, snatching the carton away and putting it back in the fridge.

"Amber and I are out and we were hoping you and Ruby would join us for some shopping."

Yang lowered her Scroll and addressed Ruby. She didn't bother trying to hide their conversation from Pyrrha. The two girls have known each other for years and there weren't many secrets between them. "You up for more socializing with my girls or do you want to keep pretending to watch TV?"

"Can we get pizza?" Ruby pouted.

"We'll see." Yang mussed Ruby's hair. Her little sister had always had a hard time making friends. Well, not really. Ruby has talked about a girl named Penny, but their interactions have been limited to school. Yang had yet to see this Penny or hear Ruby say that she was going out with her friends. Friend.

"We'll meet you downtown, is that good?" Yang said to Pyrrha.

"We'll be at Cafe Polendina. You remember the place, right?"

Two hours later, Yang had found herself in the company of Pyrrha, Amber and Ruby. The four girls were walking around downtown, looking through windows at the bits and baubles on display. Her little sister had even spotted a new keychain that she thought about giving her. Yang had tried to explain to her that she was not collecting them and that she should stop giving them to her, but Ruby had only snorted at her, ignoring what she had just said.

Her mind drifted off to the dozens of different keychains back in her bedroom, inside the drawer of her study table. She bought a pair of shoes three months ago and had gotten a free shoe keychain with it. It didn't look durable, so she chucked it in along with the rest. Even with the keychain that came free with her favorite jacket.

She liked that keychain very much. Yang had always been particular to the color black and yellow. Anything that reminded her of her precious Bumblebee, her motorcycle, that she unwillingly left back in Patch, was something that she treasured. But she liked the silver Ursa head more due to its second function of being a bottle opener. Perfect for parties. You never know when you're gonna need a bottle opener until you do.

She could always latch the keychain onto one of her bags or her wallet, but she didn't want it to be on one specific bag and it would be a little too big for her wallet. Then she thought it would be perfect for someone else, for one small key that had been a little hard to find for its owner.

Maybe she could give it to Blake. The cat Faunus looked as if she really needed one and it wasn't like Yang was going to use it. She had dozens more anyway, about thirty? Forty? Besides, it would serve as a perfect welcoming gift to the Rose-Xiao Long family if Ruby finally found the guts to admit that she liked Blake.

 _It would be really perfect if Ruby gave it to her._

Yang imagined the entire scene happening before her eyes. She could see Ruby shyly giving the keychain to Blake and the cat Faunus would be as equally shy yet thrilled to receive such a gift. Yang was just about to squeal to herself when Pyrrha had pulled them into an apparel shop to look at a shirt that would serve as a perfect gift for Jaune.

"Don't you think Jaune would look cute in this?" Pyrrha asked the entire group.

"He'll look good in anything." Yang mocked, resting her chin over her knuckles as she widened her eyes.

Pyrrha playfully shoved Yang and giggled as the blonde collided into Amber, "Stop making fun of him, Yang."

"He **is** all you ever talk about." Amber gently nudged Yang away from her, "Even when he's not here, we're all looking at shirts for him."

"Yeah." Yang threw her arm over Amber's shoulder. It was a little difficult since both girls were of equal height and Yang had only ever gotten used to doing it with shorter people, "We rarely hang out anymore so it should be just us girls."

Amber rolled her shoulders to shake Yang's arm away and walked over to stand next to Pyrrha, "That's why you and Coco need to make up."

Yang stared at them and then she stared at Ruby who mirrored the horrified expression on her face. The night after Yang had been suspended, she and Ruby were talking in the kitchen over dinner when they heard a frantic knock from the apartment door. Coco was outside and she was mad. She was always kind of mad. Irritable was the perfect word, but that night, she was furious, on a rampage. Her target was Cardin Winchester's clueless ex-girlfriend.

Reluctantly, and regrettably, Yang opened the door to let the Big Bad Bitch inside. They both argued about how reckless Yang had been and how she should have investigated Cardin's actions much closely than she did. Their entire argument was purely about circumstances that neither of them could change. It had already happened and it had already ended. The problem now is if it meant the end of Yang and Coco's friendship.

Yang was used to Coco's outbursts and rowdy confrontations, but the situation was personal to Coco and the blonde wasn't sure if Coco would ever let it slide. They had never dealt with a Coco who was in love, so this was kind of new territory and Yang had made too many mistakes already that she decided she would only act after a tremendous amount of planning.

"She's not mad at you, Yang." Pyrrha assured her.

"What if **I'm** mad at **her**?" Yang crossed her arms over her chest.

"Are you?" Ruby asked, breaking Yang's semblance of stubbornness.

"You said it yourself, Yang." Amber said aloud, her voice still the same tone as it always had been: mono. "We rarely hang out."

"Well, what are we doing now?" Yang shot back.

"We are hanging out without Coco, Nora and Ren." Pyrrha said softly, somberness in her tone.

They had always been friends. Yang, Pyrrha, Amber, Coco, Nora and Ren. Six confused teenagers who met on their first week at Beacon University. An unlikely friendship borne from homesickness and strengthened by playful insults and unusual, oftentimes harsh, displays of affection. It helped them adjust and get to know each other better.

They were right and she was wrong. She understood that. You can always claim to know between right and wrong, but at least, after all of Yang's faults and string of bad decisions, she could say that she understood the difference, that she would know never to repeat that mistake again.

It did hurt when Coco had barged into her apartment and took out her frustrations on Yang, but she missed the Big Bad Bitch and she knew that they would have to make up with each other. Sooner, Yang hoped, before the pain festered and turned into bitterness and resentment forced into the confines of civility.

"Fine." Yang pouted which she quickly replaced with a smile. The wound on her lip had already healed, but it was still visible. She dialed Coco's number and waited for her to pick up. If she would, "where is she anyway?"

"She's at Leelu's Pizza Dome with Ren, Nora and some people." Amber said nonchalantly, her brown eyes roaming around the store, looking for something fascinating.

Coco finally picked up. Yang swallowed the lump on her throat, fought the nervousness away with her flimsy stick of courage and said, "Hey, it's Yang."

"Yeah, what's up?" She didn't sound mad which was a good sign.

"Amber says you're at Leelu's with Ren and Nora." Yang heard a deeper voice in the background. It did not sound like it belonged to the only male member of their group, "And some other people?"

"The gang's all here with some new friends."

"New friends, huh? Well, Amber, Pyrrha and I don't wanna get in the way. I guess I'll see you some other time." Yang buried her hand into her hair again and looked at Pyrrha who just shook her head, disapproval clear on her scowling face.

"You're rarely out of the shithole you call an apartment and you'd rather not see me?" Coco slightly raised her voice and Yang felt like somebody had stabbed her ear with an ice pick.

She bit back her argument that her apartment was not a shithole. She reminded herself that she was trying to make up with Coco and not start another fight. She didn't want to lose another person, she didn't want to lose another friend.

"Okay, okay. We'll get there as soon as we can." She said softly, "Are you with Velvet?"

"Yeah, Velvet's here."

"Cool, cool. Oh, but I've got Ruby with me." Yang saw Pyrrha shaking her head again. This was not the first time that Yang had actually used her little sister as an excuse to get out of something.

"She'll be fine. We won't eat her." Coco sounded amused and Yang was glad to hear it for the first time this week.

"I guess we'll see you soon."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, see you." Coco quickly ended the call and Yang stared at the screen of her Scroll.

Pyrrha had been watching the entire time, pretending to be looking at a dress, but her full attention was on Yang, probably to make sure that Yang wasn't going to say anything that might start another argument with Coco.

"That went well, I hope?" Pyrrha tilted her head and smiled.

"Yeah," Yang put her Scroll away and looked around for Ruby and Amber, "She's with her girlfriend at Leelu's and some _new_ friends."

"She's probably talking about Velvet's friends." Pyrrha heard a ring and quickly held her Scroll up to her face, but was visibly disappointed that it was not a message from Jaune, "I think you were sick that weekend or was it your sister?"

"Probably me. Ruby hasn't been sick since she got here." Yang found the two girls at the far end of store, giggling at a joke they must have shared. Yangs's smile was wide. She felt pride and joy that her little sister, who first struggled to even look at Amber, was now exchanging jokes with her.

After ten more minutes of window shopping and convincing Pyrrha that she did not need to give Jaune another present, the four of them were headed to Leelu's Pizza Dome, home of the cheesiest pizza and the noisiest kid's parties any teenager would be unfortunate enough to catch.

A gust of wind blew past them and Yang noticed Ruby Rose shiver. Like clockwork, her hand found its way to her pocket, where her scarf should have been, but she remembered that she had lent it to Blake and didn't get a chance to get it back after her meeting with the Faunus' father.

 _Miles Luna on a stick, that guy's huge._

Instead, Yang wrapped an arm over Ruby's shoulder, hoping that her body heat would be enough to keep her younger sister warm. Ruby didn't fight it. She moved a little bit closer to Yang and smiled up at her walking heater of a sister.

That ten minute walk wasn't rife with more Pyrrha worrying about Jaune and reminding Pyrrha that they were supposed to be spending the weekend with friends and not worry about their significant others. The redhead, in turn, told them that Coco was with her significant other and Ren and Nora were still as inseparable as ever.

The warmth that washed over them when they entered the pizza place was like a breath of fresh air. Yang sighed in relief that there was no kid's party in sight and that there were only a bunch of teenagers poking fun at each other and some families trying to get their little kids to not play with their food. It wasn't even that crowded in there so it had been easy to find the girl with the big rabbit ears on top of her head who almost always sat next to Coco. And Blake?

 _Oh yeah, she and Velvet were friends._

"Glad you could make it." Coco greeted them, but Yang knew that, behind her dark sunglasses, Coco was looking directly at her, "What took you so long?"

Pyrrha sat herself down next to Velvet and answered for the three other girls, "Sorry. I saw this cute shirt that I thought would look good on Jaune."

Yang sighed silently. Of course, they'd talk about Jaune. She quickly noticed Sun, the gorgeous monkey Faunus, get up from his seat and offered it to her. She thought he was such a gentleman, that maybe he and Blake really **were** just friends. This would be a perfect opportunity to get Ruby to talk to the other girl. She smiled as he walked over to the vacant seat, far away from her target. She looked at her younger sister and nudged her towards the empty seat right beside Blake. Ruby must have been pretty excited because the younger girl had immediately sat herself down. She then asked Ren and Nora to move over so she could sit right next to her baby sister.

 _I wouldn't miss this for anything._

In no time at all, each and every single person around the table talked to each other. Some of them had their own private conversations while there were those who welcomed everybody. Yang could hear Nora and Ren talking with the monkey Faunus whose name she now knew as Sun Wukong, Blake's childhood friend.

She smiled to herself. If he could also attest to him and Blake being just friends, then they probably really were nothing more and that meant that Ruby had nothing to worry about. Well, except for the gigantic, angry man known as Blake's father who seemed to have taken a disapproval towards the blonde.

 _I was only trying to be nice._

Carefully, Yang took a peek at Ruby and Blake. She managed to stop herself before she squealed at the sight of the pair trying to talk to each other. Ruby was a stuttering mess and Blake was having a hard time trying to catch every word that rushed out of the younger girl's mouth.

After about a moment of silence later, Yang was surprised when Blake had called her name. It was a bit difficult to hear since she sat next to the rambunctious Nora and that a family was getting up to leave, but Yang had heard it.

"Your scarf is at my house." Blake said coolly. Yang blinked and thought that she sounded a little bit like Amber. They both sounded bored. "I'm sorry I forgot to give it back."

Yang couldn't help but remember her hasty departure, how very cowardly it seemed. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw Blake's father walking up to her as if he were ready to swat her away. She felt her cheeks flush as she forced herself to smile. Yang Xiao Long was not a coward, but she wasn't a liar either.

"Yeah... I was kinda terrified of your dad." She admitted.

"What did you do?" Ruby snorted. Yang wanted to trap the younger girl in a headlock, wanted to watch her face turn blue. How come everything was always her fault?

"Nothing!" She declared and hoped that she sounded terrifying enough to silence her sister.

"I'm really sorry about my dad." Yang saw Blake's lips twitch. They were thin, not at all smaller, but a little less full. "He wanted me to apologize to you for him and introduce you next time."

 _I'd love to get this close to pissing my pants again. Sure, no problem._

Yang forced herself to smile and turn away before she said anything more. Yang Xiao Long may not be as courageous as she wanted herself to be and the truth was, she never wanted to cross paths with Blake's massive, angry, charging father again. Well, not anytime soon.

She looked at Ruby, who seemed to be enjoying herself. She wondered what she would have done, what she would do, if she ever saw Blake's father. Yang quickly caught Blake's slight movement, how the cat Faunus had tucked her hair behind her ear— her human ones. Blake had a much more prominent jawline than herself and she couldn't help but think that her human ears were kind of cute.

Yang had been staring at that particular spot, between the cat Faunus' earlobe and her jaw, saw it twitch as Blake quickly shut her mouth tight. Yang looked up at her golden eyes and found that she was staring at the two people in front of her.

Coco and Velvet were being all cutesy with each other again. Yang internally vomited at the sight of the Big Bad Bitch being affectionate with someone. It was so strange considering how the two of them had been hiding their relationship for who knows how long. They haven't even verbally publicized it, but they were definitely showing everybody. Then Yang remembered her little conversation with Blake the other day.

 _I'm not comfortable with that._

The timing had been perfect because the moment her lilac eyes turned to Blake, searching, wondering what the other girl was thinking, she had met gold. A very alarmed pair of golden eyes. Yang swallowed hard and tried to play it cool. She did not just see what she thought she had seen.

 _Dust, she can't be a homophobe, can she? In this day and age? Do those still even exist?_

It was bad enough that Blake's father wasn't very welcoming to humans, that she may or may not even be gay, but for her to be actually against them was the last leg of her plan to get her sister a girlfriend. Yang swallowed the rock in her throat.

 _Would she even still talk to me if I come out to her?_

"Excuse me," Amber got up from her seat, "I'm gonna go to the ladies' room."

An idea flashed in the blonde's mind. In a panic, she pushed back her own chair, the sudden noise had startled her sister, but she ignored it. She had more pressing matters to attend to, "I'll come with you."

She smiled at Amber who had only shrugged and moved towards the restrooms. Yang followed the other girl closely, almost bumping into her, but Amber was used to her sudden movements that she had simply held onto Yang's arm to keep her steady.

She was grateful that Amber hadn't said anything on the way there and even when they were inside, she was silent. The restroom had three stalls in them and Amber had walked into the one farthest from the door. Yang stood by the brown marble faucets and washed the grease from her hands. Yang wiped her hands on her jeans despite the paper towel dispenser in front of her. She turned towards the stalls, her arms folded over her chest and her lip jutted, waiting for Amber to come out.

Amber straightened her flannel shirt and looked at the blonde. Still, she said nothing. She moved to Yang's side, washed her hands and grabbed a handful of paper towels to dry them. Yang closed the distance between the two of them, her arms still folded and her lilac eyes burning holes into the tiled floors. Her face was only two inches away from Amber's shoulder. Even when Amber had moved closer to the door to dispose of her used paper towels, Yang followed, maintaining the two-inch difference and her brooding expression.

Amber sighed in frustration, "Stop being creepy, Yang."

Yang was unmoving and unresponsive. Amber walked around Yang, but the blonde had only turned on her heels and placed herself a little bit closer than before and had started to nip at her wounded lip. The brunette had roughly placed a hand on her shoulder, but gently pushed her back a few steps, "If you have something to say, just say it."

Yang opened her mouth to speak. What exactly was she supposed to say? She didn't quite understand the situation and she shouldn't be worried, but she was. She looked up at Amber, but the other girl was busy running her hands through her brown hair. Yang closed her mouth and moved closer, pressing her still folded arms against the other girl's arm.

Amber quickly pulled away, clicked her tongue and held Yang's shoulders, "Personal space, Xiao Long. You're acting weird. Scary weird. What's wrong, sweetie?"

"Nothing's wrong." Yang huffed, her lips jutted even more.

"Yang, you're acting like a twelve-year-old trying to guilt trip a parent for not buying them a stupid toy and that's not **entirely** like you. Something is wrong. Tell me."

"Don't laugh, okay?"

Amber cocked an eyebrow, "Yang, I never laugh at your dumb jokes. What makes you think I'd laugh at you?"

"Ha ha. Fuck you." Yang moved away from Amber. She finally realized she had been standing too close and she needed to keep Amber listening. The brunette was more than happy to be free from the uncomfortable distance anyway.

"I love you, too, Yang." it was Amber's turn to cross her arms, her hips leaning onto the sink and waited for Yang to speak.

It was now or never. "Ruby likes someone."

Amber laughed, "And you're worried about her? Yang, she's eighteen years old. She can handle herself."

Yang bit her tongue and gripped the sink, staring at Amber's reflection in the mirror. "The girl she likes doesn't like girls."

"That's..." Amber's voice was low. Yang looked at her, not her reflection, but looked at the actual Amber standing right beside her, "unfortunate. Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. I did some recon a few days ago. I talked to the girl and she said she wasn't comfortable with gay people like she'd been living under a rock or something." Yang buried both of her hands into her hair and massaged her scalp. All this thinking was giving her a headache. This was not going as smoothly as she wanted. It never really did, but it was only just beginning to sink in.

"Let me guess," Amber said slowly, she sounded bored, but Yang knew she was teasing, "we're talking about the cat Faunus next to me."

Yang took a massive gulp of air and took her sweet time breathing it all out of her nostrils. Amber had hit the nail dead center and she had even said it so casually, a complete contradiction to how the name felt like an alarm going off in her head. She massaged her scalp furiously, hoping to ease the growing tension away. This was bad.

"It is her." Amber smiled and Yang wanted to smack the smug look off of her face, "She is very pretty. She seems nice too."

"I know, right?" Yang said aloud. Her smile was wide as she roughly grabbed Amber's shoulder and shook the surprised girl. She pulled let go of the brunette the minute her expression changed into a suspicious one and turned back to her own reflection. Her golden mess of hair was messier than before.

Yang tried to smoothen it, to try and put the disheveled strands and tufts back in their proper places. Amber had even moved closer and helped her in her futile attempt to tame her golden locks. They said nothing until Yang was satisfied with the chaos of her hairstyle, until Amber hummed and leaned against the sink again.

"Does Ruby really like her?" Amber drawled, "I mean, has she explicitly said that she likes that girl?"

"Ummm..." Yang tried to remember all of the times that Blake had ever come up in her conversations with her little sister. No, Ruby has never mentioned that she liked Blake, nor had she really mentioned the girl until Yang did.

"Or could it be," Amber lightly touched Yang's cheek, the coolness of her hands made Yang shiver, "that you like her yourself?"

 _Me? Like a homophobic girl whose dad could kill me with his bare hands? No flipping way._

Yang chortled. Only Amber Fall could come up with an idea as ridiculous and pathetic as that. Yang would never, in her whole life, like a girl who would quickly turn on her because she liked other girls too. Besides, she still believed that Ruby liked Blake and that her little sister was too shy to say it.

"Oh, Amber," Yang managed to say in between her giggles, "you always make the most batshit things up. How do you come up with them?"

"I call it as I see it, sweetie." Amber rolled her eyes and smiled, "You really should slow down, Xiao Long. It's only been a few days since you and Cardin broke up. And didn't you say that your dad was coming over next week?"

 _Holy_ _mother of dust. I forgot._

In one fell swoop, Yang had destroyed what semblance of order she and Amber had attempted to achieve with her golden hair. She pushed and she pulled at the strands, grabbing a handful and wrapping it around her head as a makeshift cover. The brunette was pretty observant and she would definitely see the added color on Yang's cheeks if she saw them.

"Do you want my advice?" Amber placed a hand over Yang's shoulder, but the blonde had quickly turned away to deflect her touch.

"No." Yang declared, but she knew Amber and she would still offer that advice regardless if it were welcome.

"First, you should talk to Ruby." Amber pulled Yang's arms away, pushed them to the blonde's sides and fixed her hair for her, "Ask her if she really does like the girl—"

"Blake." Yang corrected.

"And if she even needs your help to get her."

Yang stuck her tongue out

"Second," Amber continued, "do not force yourself on Blake. She may be a homophobe or she may be a closet lesbian, but forcing it out of her is only gonna make things worse. Third, calm the fuck down. People are gonna start getting ideas. Especially Nora."

Yang snickered. There were reasons why she and Amber were the designated Mom Friends and whenever the two of them were alone, that title fell solely on the brunette. If Yang could turn off her motherly nature, Amber couldn't and Yang appreciated being looked after for a change.

"Uhhh... Yang? Amber?" there was a soft knock on the door and Ruby's small, nervous voice could be heard, "You've been in here for a really long time now."

"Yang pissed on the floor." Amber announced out of the blue and Yang playfully shoved her backwards as she laughed.

"What the fuck, Amber?!" Yang shouted, "No, I didn't. Stop making shit up."

The restroom door slowly opened and Ruby Rose cautiously stuck her head in, a small hand over her silver eyes. "Then what is taking you both too long? People are starting to get bad ideas."

 _Amber called it. Nora._

"Your sister has a crush." Amber giggled and shot Yang a smug smile.

"Yeah, I know." Ruby laughed as Yang's eyes widened and her jaw dropped, "She's been talking nonstop about Blake."

"What are you talking about?" Yang's face felt like exploding. Her blood was rising fast and had tinged her cheeks with red.

"So, you don't like Blake?" Amber and Ruby were completely ignoring her now, having their own evil conversation and pretending that Yang wasn't even in the room with them, "Your sister seems to think so."

"She's just projecting. She does that sometimes." Ruby shrugged.

Yang pulled on her hair again. All the effort that she and Amber had put into fixing it was gone. The two people that she trusted were now talking about her, teasing her. Were they seriously torturing her right now?

"Step one is done then." Amber shot Yang a sideways glance and laughed, "Your sister doesn't like Blake. So, you should just admit that you like her."

"I hate you both." Yang said, "Fuck you all."

"Language." Ruby teased.

"Hey, Ruby," Amber ignored Yang again and moved closer to Ruby, "why don't you and me go back to the table and ask Blake if she likes Yang?"

"Do not do that or I will drown you both in the toilet." Yang threatened them, one finger zipping back and forth between her sister and her friend and her other hand trying to massage her scalp, or at this point, trying to crack her skull open.

"We should really get back before Nora tells everyone we were doing the do in the loo." Amber joked as she led Ruby towards the door, "Stop pulling your hair, Yang. Let's go."

Yang growled, unable to form a coherent retort, tugging at her hair one last time for good measure as she followed them out of the door as closely as she could, but they walked faster. Ruby groaned at the prospect of being drowned in a toilet, but mostly at how terrible Amber's pun was. She didn't enjoy Yang's lame jokes and she was less than thrilled to know that her older sister's habit was rubbing off on everyone.

She would have played it cool, but Amber held her head high, that smug, devilish smile was on her face and everyone at the table was quiet for some reason. No doubt they had just cracked a joke at her expense, but Yang ignored it. Somebody in the group was bound to break the silence any time now. She was just upset that Amber had to do it herself.

"We should really get you a comb, Yang." She slid into her seat next to Pyrrha and showed Yang how her brown eyes looked in Blake's direction.

"She'll just break it." Ruby's words were like rubbing salt over the wound that Amber had inflicted.

"Shut it, you two." She said under her breath. She didn't want to look at Blake. She didn't want Blake to look at her either. If either Amber or Ruby, or both, were going to try and embarrass her any further, she would need a moment to keep her cool.

"Well, this is awkward." Case in point: Coco Adel. "Shall we get the check and leave before anything else happens?"

Amber was not a person of empty threats. There was a 50% chance that she was going to tease Yang with Blake, which will then make things awkward with the cat Faunus. She didn't like Blake. Not in that way, at least and Yang thought that she liked talking with her, liked how she had asked questions and actually wanted to hear the answers.

When the bill arrived, Yang quickly dropped the cash on the table, grabbed her little sister by the scruff of her oversized coat and muttered her goodbyes. Leave no room for Amber to make things more weird.

 **Chapter 8.5: Laundry Day**

Monday.

Yang hated Mondays. Especially if she had spent five days of lazing around at the apartment, catching up on some sleep and playing Seventh Avenue Angels for hours in the living room. But now, she was back in Beacon University, back in the lecture halls and struggling to keep herself awake in Professor Oobleck's three-hour lecture.

She checked her Scroll for the time. Professor Oobleck didn't really mind. Not that he could see her anyway. He was frantically jotting down his lesson on the board, slashing the marker point from point A to point B as if the extinct Grimm from ancient times had returned to devour his soul.

 _Thirty-one_ _minutes to go._

She pocketed the device and felt a little bit of resistance at the bottom of her pocket. She ignored it. It was the keychain that she wanted Blake to have. Last night, Ruby had insisted that Yang should give the keychain herself and to stop using her as an excuse to talk to Blake.

"Look, if you really just wanna be friends with her, then you can just talk. Friends give each other gifts, Yang. You're making it weird." Yang recalled Ruby's words.

She sighed. It was almost the end of the day and she had not seen Blake at all. Yang had even passed by Bailey Hall a few times, but there was no trace of the cat Faunus anywhere. She decided that she would have to try again tomorrow and go straight to Amber's apartment after Professor Oobleck's class.

 _This is gonna be the shittiest bus ride back to the apartment._

Yang nibbled on her lower lip and took out her Scroll that had just vibrated. She shot a cautionary look at Oobleck, he was making diagrams on the board now, and looked down to see Amber's text.

[ Remind me again why I have to do your laundry? ]

She giggled.

[ The machines at our building are broken. Pretty please, Amber. Thanks a million. ;) ]

She decided not to put her Scroll away. She knew Amber Fall. She was going to reply in an instant. And Yang was right.

[ You're not at all embarrassed that I'm washing your underwear? ]

"Don't... sniff... em..." Yang whispered as she typed the words, "winky face."

[ That is gross. I am going to throw all of your clothes away if you ever say that again. ]

[ Imma go there after class, alright? So all my clothes better be there when I arrive. ]

"That is all for today!" Yang suddenly heard Oobleck announce. She looked up to see him standing in front of the room, his hands behind his back. It once irritated her how unkempt he looked with his crumpled shirt the yellow necktie he doesn't seem to wear properly.

 _Are all the professors here slobs?_

Yang unceremoniously shoved her textbook into her bag with one hand while the other one opened the new message that Amber had sent her:

[ Such demands. Oops. Your favorite pants fell out the window. ]

She was just about to reply with a threat of stealing all of Amber's clothes and moving her furniture around when another message popped up on the screen. It was from an unknown number. She slung her bag over her shoulder and lined up at the exit.

[ Hi, Yang. This is Blake. I wanted to give your scarf back. Let me know when you're free. ]

Yang smiled. She looked at the message again, read the words carefully while she waited for the other students to clear the exit and make way for her. She read the message a third time, her thumbs were ready to type out a reply, but she stopped herself.

 _Too soon._

She instead sent a message to somebody else, to gloat about what had just occurred to her.

[ Amber she texted me! ]

Yang stepped out onto the hall, a bounce in her step and a sway to her hips. She held her Scroll up with her right hand, waiting for a response from Amber or a follow-up message from Blake and her left hand had grabbed a handful of her blonde hair at the nape of her neck.

[ Who? ]

Yang giggled to herself. On one hand, she hated how she must have sounded like a fourteen-year-old and on the other, she didn't really give a crap.

[ Your mom. She says you're a bitch. ]

"Blake... texted... me." Yang whispered as she quickly typed before Amber could reply to her joke. The brunette was never the fastest texter anyway, but she tried.

[ Then reply. What are you texting me for? ]

[ Don't forget to pick up your clothes from the sidewalk, okay? ]

In a different time and in a different place, Yang Xiao Long would have replied with the nastiest, snarkiest remark that she could think of, but today was not that day. She didn't bother replying to Amber at all. She knew her friend would never throw her clothes away.

She opened Blake's message again and quickly typed:

[ I'm free now. Where you wanna meet? ;) ]

Yang stood by the entrance of Willingham Hall, her feet ready to rush over to wherever the cat Faunus would be. She held her Scroll close and her hand found its way to the pocket where the keychain was. She mentally berated herself. She could have asked for Blake's number and asked her to meet her instead of running around campus, hoping to find her.

[ Is Mercer okay? ]

Yang quickly moved from her spot, happily planting her right foot forward, followed by the next and then back again.

[ Yup. See you. ]

Mercer Building wasn't that far, but Yang thought that she should have at least told Blake it would take her five minutes to get there. It looked bad if you made people wait and it would be very beneficial if you arrived earlier than the agreed time.

It was normal to be this happy to see a friend, right? She was always happy to see Coco, Pyrrha, Amber, Ren and Nora. She never thought about smiling at them when they approached, she just did. She never once had to second-guess her actions, reactions and interactions with other people. Yang Xiao Long knew exactly what to do.

But right now, she was thinking if it would be weird to smile this wide, or if it would seem too mean if she didn't. Did her hair look good enough today? She tied it in a ponytail instead, just to be sure. Properly, this time. Should she pull out the keychain from her pocket without a word? Maybe she could offer to walk Blake home again. Would that be weird? She and Coco always walked home back when their schedules were kind of the same, but they parted ways at the bus stop. But Blake doesn't take the bus.

Why am I thinking about this too much?

The closer Yang moved to Mercer Building, the wider she smiled, the smile she had tried to contain. Her lilac eyes began scanning for the shape of a girl with long, black hair, feline ears above her head and a pair of golden eyes, but she had seen a different kind of gold swaying back and forth.

Sun Wukong— if she remembered correctly — and Blake seemed to be deep in conversation. The cat Faunus had told her that they were friends, but the way Sun had placed his hands on her shoulders seemed a little bit too friendly. The smile on Yang's lips completely vanished and found its way onto Sun's face the same way Blake's hand wrapped around his massive bicep with a soft giggle.

 _Just friends, my ass._

"Hey, Yang." Sun winked and Yang pushed the violent thoughts from her mind. Was he actually flirting with her in front of his "friend"?

"Hi, Yang." Blake turned to her with a smile.

Yang knew this story all too well. Two childhood friends. One of them was bound to have taken a liking to the other. They tried to ignore it in high school. They must have acted on it and have now just agreed to be friends, but being this close to each other even after all these years and after everything they had been through, one of them was still bound to have feelings for the other.

She guessed which one was which.

She barely heard what the monkey Faunus said before he turned towards the other direction and waved them goodbye. Yang watched him leave and cursed his muscular back. How could Sun stand the thought of his friend having feelings for him and ignoring them?

"Ummm... Bye!" She called out. She looked at Blake, felt extremely sorry for the poor girl. She could only imagine what Blake was thinking, what she was feeling whenever she had to see Sun flirt with other girls in front of her. Unrequited love was a pain, more so when that person loves someone else. "So, how's it going?"

"Great." Blake said dryly, pulling Yang's scarf out of her bag, "Thank you for the scarf."

"No prob, Bob." She replied, gently taking the scarf and shoving it into her pocket. She had always thought that Blake's bored tone was similar to Amber's, but Yang had just realized that it Blake probably did not want to talk to her at all, that she was simply humoring the blonde to show her gratitude for what happened with Cardin last week.

Then Blake laughed. Yang studied her closely. There was no irritation in her golden eyes, only sincerity and warmth. The same kind of warmth that one would feel by the fireplace in the living room, by the oven in the kitchen, waiting for the cookies to bake. Yang smiled at the happy memories, smiled at the girl who reminded her of them.

"Are you heading home?" She asked.

"Yes." Blake replied.

"Do you want some company?"

Blake nodded and her lips curled into that smile that Yang had grown to like seeing. It suited her well. Much better than the fearful expression on her face last week when the blonde had pulled her away from Cardin, much better than the worried look she had after the cat Faunus spoke with Dr. Ozpin the day after that.

Without a word, they both left Beacon and began their second walk to Blake's house.

This entire situation was becoming quite problematic. Yang still believed that Ruby liked Blake, if not, there was still a possibility for it and the cat Faunus was exactly someone the blonde wanted for her younger sister. But Blake liked Sun, her friend, the guy she had just been flirting with.

Yang unconsciously nibbled on her lip again, the spot where Cardin's fist had landed almost a week before. She had picked up that habit when the wound was fresh, had been irritated at the scabbing and how sometimes she imagined she'd tasted blood. She looked at Blake, who said nothing in the last five minutes, and saw the other girl shiver.

She hadn't meant to do it, but she noticed how low the neckline of Blake's shirt was, wondered how soft her skin would be like if she touched her, how sensitive her neck must be and imagined the spot where her jawline met her human ear, hidden underneath a curtain of soft black hair that smelled sweet.

This time, she had meant to look at the other girl's bare chest and watched Blake stiffen when the wind blew. Last week, Blake admitted she was cold and she wore much more than she did today.

"Aren't you cold?" Yang asked softly. She had almost sung the words just to hide the fact that she had been staring.

Blake looked down at her clothes and shrugged before she wound her own collar around her neck, covering up as much skin as it could, "A little. It's laundry day. I'll be fine."

She did look a little bit warmer, but Blake's scarf wasn't big enough or thick enough to cover every inch of her exposed skin. Yang laughed at the coincidence and casually pulled the cat Faunus into her arms, to share the warmth of her skin with the shivering girl. "Ha, same."

Yang heard Blake's sharp intake of breath, felt the other girl's arm trapped against her breast in her act of rejecting the blonde's sudden gesture of affection. Blake gently pushed her away and stepped out of the embrace, embarrassed. People always tended to get embarrassed when it came to her breasts, much more when they involuntarily felt it against them. Ruby had told her thousands of times.

"Oh, sorry!" She muttered and reached for her hair, but she had tied it in a ponytail, so she opted to rub her neck instead, "I usually give Ruby and my friends a big hug when they feel cold. Spread the warmth, you know."

Nora and Pyrrha had asked her a few times before and those were the exact words that they used to coax her into sharing her body heat with them.

"You definitely have an impressive bo— impressive body heat." Blake's eye twitched, "I'm just not a big fan of hugging."

"Not a big fan of..." Yang could not believe what she was hearing. Someone had actually said that she was not a big fan of hugging. Everybody liked hugging. Nobody did not like it. But here Blake was. "Do your parents ever hug you?"

"Yes, they do." Blake laughed, "I'm just really not the hugging type."

Everybody is the hugging type deep down and all it took was a little bit of convincing. Sure, the first one was uncalled for and moderately inappropriate, especially from a girl who seemed to be very much against anything romantic between two people of the same gender, so Yang must now do it as platonically as she could.

"You probably haven't been hugged properly." She held her arms open and put on her best smile, "Quit arguing and come here. I've got warmth for two."

Blake seemed reluctant and the way she rolled her golden eyes prompted Yang to lower her arms a little bit, but the cat Faunus moved closer, slowly, cautiously and wrapped her arms around Yang's waist. Yang gently placed both her arms over Blake's shoulders, pressing her a little bit closer. Her black hair was soft to the touch and Yang was sure that the other girl smelled so much like vanilla and flowers. Sweet and calming.

Yang closed her eyes and remembered her childhood afternoons spent in their kitchen in Patch, baking cookies with Summer Rose, licking the spoon as they waited by the warm glow of the oven. Yang had always asked the older woman to mix something into the batter, something sweet and fragrant.

 _Vanilla._

She missed those afternoons. The sun was always shining outside and cast the entire forest behind their home in a golden glow that looked exactly like the oven in the kitchen, exactly like the eyes of the girl she was holding.

In her sudden bout of nostalgia and homesickness, Yang pulled the other girl tighter, wanting to feel something tangible to keep herself from falling back into those thoughts, those memories of warmer times, of happier times.

"Ouch!" Blake pushed her back forcefully this time.

Yang mentally cursed herself. She had hurt Blake even though she had only intended to make her feel better, to convince the other girl that she was a good person. She waited for Blake to round on her, but the other girl had simply rubbed at her ribs, confusion on her face. Yang thought for a minute and remembered the keychain in her pocket.

"Oh, I almost forgot" she moved away from Blake, afraid that she might unintentionally hurt her again. She pulled the object out of her pocket and raised it over the matching bee-patch on her chest, "I remembered you didn't have a keychain. This is for you."

She squeezed the keychain, hoping that the heat from her hands would warm the cold metal before she held it up for Blake to grab. As expected, the cat Faunus was reluctant to receive it, but Yang insisted, explained that she had dozens of others back in her apartment, either they were gifts from her little sister or they had come free from whatever she had purchased. This one came with the jacket she was wearing. A symbolic piece of Yang Xiao Long for Blake to carry around with her.

Then they were silent again.

Yang had never really liked silence. It allowed for other things to be heard, memories, words to resurface, to start echoing in the dark recesses of her mind. But the silence between her and Blake was calming. Yang felt truly at peace, safe. Strange, since she had been the one trying to keep the other girl safe.

 _From what? Cardin's gone._

He was shipped off to Mistral, but only after leaving dozens of angry voicemails on her Scroll and bombarded her inbox with plenty of confusing messages. Half of them were angry and threatening and the other half was apologetic and caring.

 _He told me he loved me._

Yang chewed on her lip again. Cardin never loved her. He must have, at some point, but he never truly loved her. And if anybody asked if Yang had ever felt love for him, she would tell the entire world that she hadn't. She would lie. Because she **had** loved him, even for the briefest of moments, even for just a single day, she was sure that she loved him.

And that was the worst.

"Hey, Yang." Blake's voice calmed Yang's thoughts.

"Yeah?" She looked at the cat Faunus.

"I'm not..." She began, her thin lips twitched as she spoke, "I'm not a homophobic person. Last Saturday was—"

"Coco and Velvet." Yang said gently and laughed. Everyone around that table had seen them and Yang, herself, wasn't entirely comfortable watching them either. It wasn't that she disliked either of them, it wasn't that they were of different species. No, it was the fact that it was Coco "the Big Bad Bitch" Adel was being overly affectionate. Yang had known Coco for years and Coco was never once affectionate, never a lot kinder than she was with the blonde. The mere sight of Velvet and Coco was unsettling for her.

Yang did not like the direction their conversation was going. This topic was one of the things that Yang didn't like about Blake. She knew the cat Faunus was trying, or was at least trying to be nice, but they did talk about it. Briefly, thankfully. Yang had even tried to butcher this passage she read in one of Amber's books as an excuse to discontinue this conversation.

As luck would have it, Yang was saved by the bell, or the ringing of her Scroll and it was the perfect moment because Amber Fall herself was calling her, "Sorry, I gotta take this."

When Yang looked at Blake, she saw a hint of sadness cloud over her golden eyes and watched the feline ears above her head twitch. A part of her wanted to ignore Amber's call and let the slim possibility of her clothes being thrown out become highly probable, but a part of her wanted to make sure that she had something freshly laundered to wear the next day.

She held the device up to her ear, walked a little further away. A nervous smile formed at her lips and a blush crept to her cheeks. "Hey, Amber, what's up?"

 _Do not talk about my underwear._

"Are you coming over or not?" Amber hadn't bothered with pleasantries and Yang noted the hint of annoyance in her bored tone.

"I'll be there in an hour?" Amber's apartment was a bit too far away and Yang estimated the commute to take a little over thirty minutes.

"Make that thirty minutes."

"I'll make you dinner then." Yang offered as a silent bribe. She knew Amber didn't really like cooking very much and all of their friends had liked Yang's cooking. Maybe dinner would lighten her mood and convince Amber to not dispose of her clothes. "I'll see you later, Amber."

 _I am going to shove that dinner down her throat if a single one of my underwear goes missing._

Yang pocketed her scroll and slowed down to wait for Blake to match her pace. She could feel her own blood pooling at her face, on her cheeks. She had just met Blake, she was still getting to know her. Talking about laundry and underwear was not a topic you would want to have with someone you intended to be your friend.

She thought quickly, the words jumping out of her mouth to distract her new friend, "I like to cook sometimes."

"That's cool."

Had she been rude earlier? Yang was dismissive of Blake's insistence that she was not homophobic, but Yang understood and she genuinely did not want to put Blake in a situation that did not make her feel comfortable. But that mustn't have been what the other girl thought and now she sounded uninterested. Blake's words felt like ice, but Yang was fire and she knew how to thaw the coldness away.

Gradually, the ice thawed and Yang had learned a little bit more about the other girl. She liked books and she liked sniffing them. Yang didn't really care much for books, her textbooks were only ever opened when a test was coming up, but to actually familiarize herself with how they smelled? It was strange and a little bit amusing and a little bit cute.

"Thanks for listening." Blake said, her voice as soft as silk, sincerity in her golden eyes, her long eyelashes fluttered like butterfly wings. The cat Faunus tightened her blazer, her key already in her hand. Yang noticed her cat ears twitch again and she allowed herself a few seconds to stare.

Should she call it fur or hair? Yang knew the Faunus were just like humans, knew that the only thing that set the two apart was that the other had a little bit more. She bit her tongue, afraid that if she asked, Blake might be offended. But she was still staring at them. She wanted to reach up and touch them, to know if they were as soft as Blake's long black hair, to see if they were as sensitive as Yang's own human ears when one would trace a finger over her earlobes.

Then Yang saw how Blake's cat ears had pushed back a little, collapsing towards her skull. She saw terror in the other girl's face, golden eyes locked onto something in the distance. Yang tried to find what had scared Blake. It couldn't have been Cardin. He had already left. But her eyes had landed on a car parked in the driveway and Yang could only assume that her father had painted a target across her back.

"Your dad's not gonna kill me, is he?" She was on edge, ready to bolt in the other direction if danger would present itself to her.

It did little to ease her worry that Blake did not respond to her and her heart had skipped a beat the moment that the front door opened and an eight-foot-tall giant who disguised himself as Blake's father stepped outside, calling them to move closer.

 _Please don't kill me. Please don't kill me. Please don't kill me._

With each step that they took, Yang could see the disapproval smeared across his face, but he was not looking at her, he was looking at Blake. She had no idea why she suddenly thought that she was the lamb being offered for the slaughter. Blake wouldn't do that to her, would she?

"Dad, this is Yang!" Blake said aloud.

Her father turned to look at her, acknowledging her presence as if she had been a little pest that had just caught his attention. Tiny. Insignificant. Doomed. And then he smiled. Yang wasn't sure if it was a good one or a dangerous one, but he smiled. "Hi, I'm Blake's dad."

Instinctively, Yang held out her hand for a handshake. That was usually what fathers do when they met their children's friends. They usually didn't ignore the extended arm, wrap their massive arms around her waist and lift her in the air like she weighed nothing.

 _I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die._

"Blake told me all about what you did last week." He gently lowered her, waited as she firmly planted her feet on the ground before letting her go completely. "I'm sorry about how I reacted. I had just heard there was a fight and you had a cut on your lip and I assumed the worst."

Yang was scared to open her mouth and hear the sound of her courage fading fast. Her heart was hammering against her chest and her knees were about to fail her. Blake had come to her rescue, saving her from speaking until she mustered whatever courage she had left in her to speak.

Then he invited her to dinner that evening. That sounded nice and it had been a while since she had a home-cooked meal. Probably just around a month or a month and a half. But she had already promised Amber she would pick up her laundry. This entire walk with Blake wasn't even part of today's agenda.

"I'd love to..." Yang reached for the end of her ponytail and then she quickly added, "sir. But I have to be somewhere."

"Well, maybe next time then. How about this weekend? As an apology for how rude I was last week."

This weekend would be fine, but her own father was going to come to Vale. Taiyang Xiao Long rarely dropped by to visit and whenever he did, Yang had always spent time with him as much as she could. She could still remember how he called her every single night after her suspension, how angry and worried he had been that Yang was not answering his call. She reached for the Scroll inside her pocket, her hand ready to whip it out if he would ever call. He wouldn't, but just to be sure.

"I can't this weekend." She forced herself to laugh, "My dad's coming over to visit me and my sister."

"Okay, let me know when you're free. You can even bring your sister along." The smile on his face looked warmer, friendlier, but a little bit sadder, "Thank you again and I'm sorry."

"No problem, sir." She turned on her heel, looked at Blake and saw the disappointment in her golden eyes. She didn't want to say it, but she had to, "Bye, Blake."

She went back the way they had come. It seemed much farther away now that she was walking alone. She took out her Scroll and called Amber to tell her that she was already on her way and that her clothes better there when she arrived.

"How was your date?" Amber teased.

"It wasn't a date." Yang said into the receiver, "I just wanted to talk more. Besides, guess who got a dinner invitation from her dad?"

She heard Amber giggle on the other end, "You?"

"Me and Ruby!"

"Do you really still think your sister likes her or do you think we're all dumb enough to believe that you don't like her for yourself?"

Yang bit her lip and thought for a second, "Maybe I do, maybe I don't."

"You have no clue, do you?" Amber said, bored as ever, but Yang recognized the concern in her monotone.

"I'll just wing it."

Amber only hummed. It wasn't a teasing hum or an annoyed hum. It was a different kind of hum. A suspicious one, a doubtful one that she had heard before whenever Yang would say something that did not sit well with the brunette.

"I'll start boiling the pasta." Amber finally said before she ended the call.


	14. Yang Xiao Long Pt 3

**Chapter 9.5: Detonate**

It was Saturday evening. What usually happened on a Saturday evening in Yang and Ruby's apartment was that the two sisters would talk in the kitchen about how Ruby had spent the entire day texting with Penny and Yang would usually tell her little sister all about the things that have happened to her while she was out with her friends.

Not this Saturday evening.

This Saturday evening, they were about to sit down to dinner, a feast that they managed with the help of a pair of extra hands from their father, Taiyang Xiao Long.

He had arrived a little after lunch and the three of them had spent the entire afternoon setting their father up in Ruby's room― it was the bigger room ―and had helped Ruby settle into Yang's room for the time being. The sisters were only going to share Yang's room for one weekend. It's not as if they haven't done it before. The two girls even secretly kind of liked it.

Yang and Ruby were surprised by how much Taiyang had improved in the cooking department. What else could he have done now that his two daughters were away at college and he was alone in Patch? They didn't expect Zwei to do the cooking. The little corgi could do a lot of things, but that would be impossible.

It had been a warm reunion the entire time, catching up, exchanging what photos that they had taken. Yang was nervous. None of them had mentioned a single thing about the real reason why Taiyang was here. She had almost forgotten about it until she was about to dig into a piece of honeyed ham.

"What were you thinking going out with that punk, Yang?" Taiyang glared at her, blue eyes cold as ice. Of course, he would blame her.

"I'm sorry, okay?" Yang swallowed the ham and said in between her chewing, "I made a mistake."

"So, you just hang around creeps like that and you don't even bother getting to know them before you start dating them? That's a stupid thing to do."

Yang furrowed her brows and stabbed another piece of ham, "It's not like I'm going to run out and do it again. Let's just stop talking about this, okay?"

"Are you even taking this seriously?" Taiyang had dropped his utensils on the table, the cutlery clanging loudly against his plate, "He hit you. What if he did much more than that?"

"I know that." Yang said aloud, her voice echoing against the kitchen walls, "Dad, I made a mistake and I know that. The regret is already smothering me. I don't need yours to do the same."

Ruby kept her head down the entire time. Yang was thankful that her little sister had no intentions of reprimanding her as well. The younger girl had already witnessed everyone else call her older sister out on her mistakes anyway. One thing Ruby knew was that her older sister could only take so much and laugh it off before it starts to seep into her nerves. Right now, Yang was a ticking time bomb.

"You should've known that he was a useless punk from the start." Taiyang pounded his fist on the table that startled both Yang and Ruby.

Yang nibbled on her lip where the wound had been a week ago. She clenched her hands into tight fists around her own cutlery, consciously trying to keep them from pulling into her hair again. It had always been her fault. It had always been her mistakes that people talked about. She was too reckless. She was too impulsive. She was too hot-headed.

She was only twenty.

"Did you know Raven was going to run out on you when you married her?" she spat, lilac eyes burning into the surprised look in her father's blue eyes.

Ruby had gotten even smaller after Yang had said the words and Taiyang no longer looked angry. No, he looked defeated. Yang didn't think she had won the argument, but she relished this moment of silence. Stunned and heated it may be, but it was silence all the same.

When Taiyang looked at her again, there was no fury in his eyes or a scowl on his lips. There was only pain. Yang had hurt him. Even if she had done it to protect herself, it still weighed on her that he had hurt him. If there was one other person who had an inkling of what she felt, it was her father. It hurt her whenever she remembered that her real mother had abandoned her after she was born, but Yang had forgotten that Raven was Taiyang's first wife, that she left him too.

Two sides of the same coin. He was just as torn up about it as she was.

Before Yang could utter an apology, Taiyang dropped his elbows on the table, buried his face into his hands and sobbed. The last time that Ruby and Yang had seen him in such a state was right after Summer died. To see him like this now urged their own tears to fall.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." he kept muttering in between sobs.

Yang and Ruby pushed back their chairs and wrapped their arms around him― Yang around his neck and Ruby around his waist. This was not the first time this happened and each time, they wished it would be the last. When one of them would fall apart, they all do.

"I'm sorry, dad." Yang sobbed into his blond hair, "I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too." he whispered back, his muscular arms tried to hold onto his daughters as best as he could. They could feel his fear, his pain, his worry in his embrace. "I can't stop worrying about the two of you. I did everything I could... for you, girls... and I felt useless when your uncle called... some guy hit you. He hit my daughter. I felt so useless."

Yang and Ruby tightened their hold around him, trying to keep their father together. This was how Taiyang had always been. When Yang would come home with wounded knees, he would overreact and treat it like a fatal wound. If Ruby would say she wasn't feeling well, he would break out the thermometers and instantly wrap her in blankets.

He was overprotective. He was terrified.

"I love you both." he pulled himself away and stared up at his daughters, both his hands wrapped around his daughters' wrists, tears still falling, "I love you. I'm thousands of miles away and all I can do is worry about you."

"We love you too, dad." Ruby hugged him again.

Yang looked at her father and her sister― her family. They have seen the horrors she had, have felt the loss and absence of Summer, even Raven, and they were the same people who, day in and day out, did everything they could to keep each other happy. She wrapped her arms around Taiyang and Ruby and waited for the tears to stop falling. They remained that way for a few more minutes. It had only been a month since they had last seen their father, but after everything that had happened, it felt like years.

After the dishes had been washed and after Ruby had fallen asleep, Yang walked out to the living room, to where her father had been watching the news on television. Silently, she sat down next to him. She still felt bad about bringing Raven up the way she had earlier and she wanted to really apologize for what she had said.

"I'm really sorry about earlier." Taiyang said, shutting the television off and facing Yang, "I know I made you feel like what happened was your fault and that was wrong of me."

"I'm not perfect, dad." Yang pulled her knees against her chest and hugged them, "I know it was wrong and that I should have known better. I'm sorry about bringing up Raven."

Taiyang forced himself to laugh. He had done it so many times that Yang knew the difference between a legitimate one and the one she heard now. "I was around your age when Raven and I met. I was just as foolish and reckless."

"I know." Yang softly snorted.

"I just forgot." Taiyang admitted, staring at his own reflection on the television, "After Summer died, you just kind of picked yourself up and took care of Ruby and me. Nobody told you to. Nobody expected you to, but you did and I guess I thought you just had everything figured out."

"I didn't." Yang admitted, "I still don't. I just thought that if I didn't do anything, didn't try to do everything that Summer would have done, I would fall apart."

"But you're not Summer." he said softly.

Yang could feel the air in her lungs getting sucked out. She straightened herself and cast her lilac eyes at her father who had simply looked at her and smiled.

"You're Yang." he continued, "My sunny little dragon and I am proud of you."

Yang smiled warmly. She liked hearing that. Hundreds of times, she had caught herself thinking that this wasn't what Summer would be doing, that this was not how Summer would handle it, but it had been a good guide for her. Because she had no idea what Yang Xiao Long would do.

A fist to the stomach had gotten her suspended, but it did land her a new friend.

"Thanks, dad." she whispered.

"I see myself in you." Taiyang laughed and Yang knew this was real, "I was just as fiery and stubborn as you and I guess that's why I worry about you more."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Yang giggled and playfully punched his shoulder.

"I don't want you to end up like me." he said softly, the pain creeping into his blue eyes, "I want you to be happy and safe. I want you to be with someone who would stay with you, through thick and thin, to love you. He―"

"Or she."

"Or she would have to be there for you and they would never hurt you. That's why you gotta be more careful with your relationships, kiddo. You have to get to know people."

" And how do I do that?" Yang drawled.

"You talk to them." Taiyang smiled, "You share pieces of yourself with them and they, in turn, give back pieces of themselves to you."

Yang thought for a minute. It sounded so simple, but she knew it wasn't going to be easy. "What if there are differences?"

"No two people are alike, Yang." he said so matter-of-factly that Yang thought he was mocking her, "Besides, the differences make the relationship more interesting. What you need to worry about is finding someone who's willing to work around those differences and not change them."

"And how does one work around these differences?"

"Communication. You talk to each other."

Yang narrowed her eyes at him. She remembered what it was like when she was with Cardin. They constantly talked to each other, but that never stopped him from hiding his vindictive habits from her, never stopped him from hurting her. Yes, people throw words of love around followed by their fists.

 _He told me he loved me._

"People say things all the time and they never really mean it." Yang sucked on her lip again, her hand snaked around the lock of blonde hair that fell against her shoulder.

"That's why you listen." Taiyang said softly, "Communication is a two-way street, Yang. You can tell them everything about yourself, but if they never give a part of themselves to you, even the things that you **don't** want to hear, then you may never truly know someone."

Yang pulled her hair harder and bit her lip. Maybe that's where she went wrong with Cardin. Sure, they did talk, but they never said anything that mattered, never shared a piece of themselves with each other. She went on believing that talking with him and spending time with him had been enough. She must have believed it was enough with her previous relationships because they didn't stay too long.

She took Taiyang's words to heart. She wouldn't want to find herself in another relationship that was doomed from the start. Yang wanted somebody constant, somebody who would stay, somebody who would love her.

And she knew just who she wanted.

 **Chapter 10: Sparks**

Yang had been looking forward to Nora's party the entire week. The entire semester had proven to be very dramatic and she just wanted to be drinking and playing games with her friends for the first time in a very long time.

She had given up on another party with the gang in the summer, when they all couldn't even meet up for lunch or simply do nothing together. One of them was always out doing something else, Pyrrha would say she had promised to have dinner at Jaune's and Ren and Nora? Well, Yang never really knew what those two did whenever they were out on dates.

Being one of the party host's best friends meant that she had unlimited early access to the beer, but being one of the party host's best friends meant that she would have to clean up the mess that was sure to be there the following morning. That meant mopping up the vomit, if somebody drank too much and taking out the trash.

"Is Amber coming or what?" Yang asked Coco and Pyrrha in the living room.

Pyrrha was collecting the angel figurines and the framed photographs, deciding to store them in a safe place upstairs in case a guest would accidentally break them or try to steal them. It had happened before. Coco was sitting on the couch, smiling at her Scroll.

"It's her mom's birthday." Coco said, not even looking at Yang.

"Her dad had called last week." Pyrrha added, a handful of figurines in her arms.

Nora almost ran into Pyrrha, but the taller redhead had seen their boisterous host coming and gracefully stepped away from her path. Yang giggled as Nora told Coco to move and complained that the brunette wasn't helping them prepare for the party. Coco grunted and threw her Scroll onto the couch before she got up to assist in pushing the couch back against the wall to make room for the dancefloor.

Satisfied with their work, Coco dove back onto the couch and glued her eyes to the Scroll. Nora had only rolled her eyes and said as loud as she could, "I am going to flip if any of you losers go upstairs and start fucking in my room."

"Calm down, Nora." Ren walked in the room, carrying two bags of paper cups from the kitchen, "Everyone knows to behave."

"Yeah," Yang cheered, "I'll even keep watch of the stairs to make sure nobody sneaks up there."

"Not unless you do it yourself." Coco commented with a giggle, shooting a teasing look at Yang.

"I am single and ready to mingle." Yang stuck her tongue out at Coco who only laughed at her response.

"You should really take some time and enjoy singlehood, Yang." Nora swatted at the blonde's arm, unaware that she had used a little too much force in the action. Nora was never really aware and probably didn't really care if it was a little too forceful than she had wanted.

"When was the last time you were single?" Yang called after their host who had retreated back into the kitchen.

An hour later, Jaune had arrived with the huge speakers that he had borrowed from one of his sisters. He and Ren had set it up on the opposite side of the couch while Yang and Ruby had decided to string some Christmas lights on the ceiling. Parties weren't really fun if the lights were too bright and this was the closest alternative they could afford than renting out strobe lights.

They had all started the party even before the first guests had arrived. That was how it always went with their parties. It starts with them and it usually ended with them as well. It was all pure fun and a night to forget about school, forget about broken hearts, unreturned calls, arguments in restaurant restrooms and emotional conversations with one's parents.

Yang went back and forth from the kitchen to the living room, handing out beer to people she recognized and people she had never seen before. She even danced along with Ruby and urged her to have fun. Everything was going great.

But she couldn't help but think that something was missing.

She kept looking around, looking for a pair of Faunus ears that she had been secretly wanting to see the entire time. She and Blake had texted a few nights ago and the cat Faunus had said that she was going to attend the party.

Halfway through the party and after bouncing around the dancefloor, Yang made another sweep of the room and found who she was looking for in the beer pong room. Blake had arrived, but Yang was not informed.

 _Maybe she didn't see me._

Yang brushed it off. They had all intended for the room to be dim, but Yang remembered that Blake had told her she had night vision. It could be that she didn't see her in this sea of drunken teenagers. It could also be the speakers blaring bass thumping music. Blake had told her that her ears were sensitive enough to hear a pin drop in a noisy room. Yang could only imagine what the current noise could be doing to her now.

She decided she could walk over there and cheer her on. Blake had just made a perfect shot, the ping pong ball falling into the opponent's cup with a plop. She had grabbed Ruby by the shoulder, to excuse herself when her eyes had seen the muscled arm wrap around Blake's shoulder.

"What's up?" Ruby shouted over the sound of the music, alarmed that her sister had unconsciously tightened her grip on her shoulder.

"Nothing." Yang smiled wide, "I just slipped."

Ruby shrugged her shoulders and pulled Yang into another attempt at dancing. The blonde had spotted a group of teenagers a few people away looking at them. She noticed how a guy had winked at her as he pressed the cup to his lips. She politely smiled back and pulled her sister a few more people away from them, pushing past a redheaded Faunus.

After about three more songs later, Yang was surprised when Pyrrha joined the sisters with Jaune in tow. She looked at the beer pong table and saw that the game had already ended, saw that Blake and Sun were now chugging what was left of the drinks on the table.

Finally, Blake had looked at her and Yang couldn't contain her smile and waved, hoping that the other girl would join them or invite Yang over. Blake's lips curled into a smile and Yang's night had gotten exponentially better, but her joy had been snuffed out when Sun moved closer, pressing his body against her to whisper in her ear.

Yang saw the blush on the cat Faunus' cheeks, saw how she reached for the cup in his hands, drank all of it and pulled him closer towards her. Blake smiled as she whispered in Sun's ear and Yang saw how her cat ears playfully brushed against his smiling face.

Sun Wukong, her friend since they were both in eighth grade, the same guy who had a crush on the cat Faunus, the same friend she had been flirting with that day in front of Mercer Building. There was something going on between them and it bothered Yang why Blake wouldn't even admit it, it bothered her how Blake could possibly be in love with him and he barely cared.

Yang retreated into the kitchen to grab another bottle of beer from the kitchen, smiling at Nora who had been handing out shots of vodka to a bunch of people who were about to leave. Ruby would be fine under the watchful eyes of Jaune and Pyrrha and she knew that Yang would be in the kitchen if the party was getting a little too overwhelming for her.

Yang Xiao Long was no longer in any mood to party. She would rather sit in the dark kitchen, handing out beer to whoever stumbled into the room and herded them back out after a few minutes. She had already finished her seventh beer bottle of the night when Pyrrha and Ruby walked in, searching for her.

"How many have you had?" Pyrrha pointed to the bottle Yang held against her cheek.

"I don't know." Yang admitted. It wasn't that she was alcoholic or had no control over her drinking. She just didn't notice how much beer she would consume before she starts to get tipsy. Right now, she wasn't feeling anything but tense.

"You better slow it down, sis." Ruby yanked the empty bottle from her hand and carefully set it on the kitchen counter before she pulled herself up to sit.

"Ruby's right." Pyrrha brushed Yang's bangs away from her face, cooing at her like the mom friend that she currently was, "There will be more drinking when the other guests leave. You know how Nora is."

Yang giggled, feeling the alcohol rise to her throat, but she fought the urge to vomit back, "Yeah. I wish we had karaoke instead."

At half-past one and after nervously cleaning up what she could in Nora's kitchen, Yang and Ruby sat themselves in the living room when the last of the party guests had left. Yang had teased her little sister after she had drank a full bottle of beer. Ruby was reluctant, saying that she was too young, sputtering that they were all too young to be drinking.

"I am never drinking again." Ruby groaned, leaning against her sister, "Beer tastes awful."

Yang took this moment to ruffle her sister's hair with affection, "That's what they all say at first."

She was a little too tired a little bit more drunk to help Ren, Jaune and Pyrrha in the first stages of their cleanup. She giggled to herself and thought that Nora was going to walk in and wreck the place in a few minutes. They weren't even supposed to start cleaning up until the next day, when Nora would still be snoring in her bed and left them alone to clean the place unhindered.

Yang was right. Nora had walked in, swatted the cup in Jaune's hand and declared that they play a game. She giggled again when somebody had suggest they play Spin the Bottle and groaned when she heard Seven Minutes in Heaven. They were party favorite games that must have been suggested by the new friends that had never been to one of Nora's parties before.

Ever so slowly, it dawned on her that Nora had been planning something evil when she went back into the kitchen and destroyed what she had tried to clean up, when their party host had walked out of her own front door.

"She is not!" Yang heard Coco say.

This has happened before. A year ago. Yang, Pyrrha, Coco, Ren, Amber and Nora were the only participants then and even at that time, Nora had decided to dump rum in their beer, added a few lemons, a dash of sugar and a handful of grass.

The dares had been outlandish then. Go lick the door mat, take a shot of vinegar, wear toothpaste on your lips, draw phalluses and boobs on Ren's face. They had made Pyrrha call Jaune that night and tell him that she would like to see him in a dress. That was probably the reason they started dating.

But Nora said that last year was practice and that the next time they played, it will be much more outrageous and dangerous. This time, she added more into the mixture and had them all sit in a circle. This time, the dares were as crazy as it had been.

Last year, Nora had dared her to snip off a handful of her hair. Yang had vehemently refused and had to drink the mixture. It didn't taste all too bad, but now when she was dared to eat five strands of her hair, she doubted the current Death Spin Bottle drink would taste better.

She did as she was told. Eating her hair was a much safer option than following in poor Neptune's example. She glared at Nora the entire time, swearing vengeance with her lilac eyes and vengeance she had when her spin landed on the so-called queen of the castle that had tortured them all.

The game came to an end when Nora ran to the kitchen. Yang was worried that she had gone too far, rushing to hold her hair back as she vomited into the kitchen sink. Nora had just laughed in between her puking and had even declared that they would never play that game ever again. She doubted it Nora would keep her word, but was grateful that she had saved them all from more humiliating dares.

Two hours later, Nora was back on the dancefloor, spinning a tired Ren in her arms and throwing herself at Jaune and Pyrrha who broke apart from their canoodling each time she did. Yang had finished repairing the damage that their host had done in the kitchen as best as she could and decided that could just finish in the morning, after getting some sleep.

She grabbed a bottle of beer from the fridge and went to the living room to check on Ruby. She had expected to see Ruby dozing on the couch, unaware of the romantic embrace that Coco and Velvet were more than likely sharing, but the first thing she had seen was the person who had been avoiding her all night standing against the wall, a bottle of beer in her hand and looking at the others on the dancefloor.

In the dim living room, Yang had noticed how Blake's eyes glowed a little bit, how the darkness had only made her eyes look a little bit like the moon in the night sky, but they were much brighter than that, a lot warmer. Her eyes reminded her of the afternoon sun, bright, but soft like the warmth from the oven she watched over when she was younger.

She followed where the sun in her eyes had been shining onto and saw Sun, dancing around with his friends. Yang's grip on the beer bottle in her hand tightened and she unconsciously ran her tongue over her lower lip. It had been a habit that she would never have noticed if Ruby hadn't pointed it out.

She had half a mind to ignore the cat Faunus who was sadly staring at Sun, but half of her, the Mom Friend half of her, wanted to make sure that the other girl was okay, to make sure that **they** were okay.

"I can't believe you ate that thing." Yang opened, moving slowly from the dizziness she had suddenly felt.

"I think it was a piece of chicken." Blake shrugged, her face displaying no emotion, "Hey, you ate your own hair."

"My hair is clean." she gleefully announced with a quick swipe of her precious long locks, "And I'd probably digest it so I won't worry about it in the toilet."

 _Best not to say shit._

Yang giggled and Blake laughed along with her. There was that smile that she liked to see. She wanted it to remain plastered on the other girl's lips, but she was still staring at the dancefloor, staring at Sun and her smile had faded once again. Yang thought that she had to bring it back somehow, but her drunken mind had only willed herself to sing like a damn idiot.

"Why are you here, by yourself, in the corner, away from everyone? Are you not having fun?" she wanted to run back towards the kitchen and smash a frying pan against her skull. That did not seem smooth at all. It didn't even sound normal.

"I am." she hadn't meant to stare, but she did when Blake pressed the bottle to her lips and sipped her beer, "but I just... it gets overwhelming. I just need a break. I swear I'll have fun after about ten minutes."

Yang wrestled her gaze away and feigned suspicion when Blake had tried to smile. She knew that the cat Faunus was not having fun, that she had subjected herself to a bout of heartache, watching and yearning for the monkey Faunus who didn't seem to bother to check on his "friend."

 _I'd never ignore you. Dust, you've been ignoring me all night, but I'm not ignoring you._

She inched closer towards Blake, feeling her shoulder almost touching the other girl's and openly stared at Sun, exchanging jokes with Neptune and Scarlet. She had no idea what Blake saw in him. Aside from his cute face and muscled body, he didn't seem like much to her.

 _You don't even know him._

It could be that Sun was actually a caring guy whenever he and Blake were alone. They couldn't be friends for the past years if he was anything but. They had been looking out for each other, shared secrets and words that Yang tried to shake away.

But he wasn't looking out for Blake now, he wasn't here with her. Yang was. She was standing next to Blake, talking to her. This time, Yang would be the one to look out for her, to be caring, to give her all the attention that she had wanted from him.

Gently, she held Blake's arm and moved closer to whisper, "Let's go someplace quiet then."

The alcohol had dulled the hesitation out of her, but Yang had been mindful the entire time that she and Blake snuck up the stairs. There was no resistance from the cat Faunus and she had assumed that whatever was going to happen was definitely going to happen and she was going to make sure that Blake wouldn't even think of Sun.

But everything changed when they both stepped into their host's bedroom. Yang pushed past Blake after she had offered to leave the lights off and when she looked at the cat Faunus behind her, she could barely make out the expression on her face, but her eyes― her eyes that shined like the sun were terrified and there was misery in there.

Yang cursed herself the moment Blake ran a hand against her face. Blake didn't put up a fight because she must have trusted her, she must have believed that Yang was going to get her to a quiet, comfortable place, but instead, she had led her into a bedroom with impure intentions.

 _What the fuck am I doing?_

Yang turned to hide her shame away, turned to look out the window. She knew Blake would see it and she didn't want to be another reason why the poor girl was sad. Yang wanted to see her smile, not make her cry, not scare her away.

She opened the window to let the night breeze cool her, an idea coming to her. A better one than what she had intended to do. "Nora and I do this all the time."

She turned to look at Blake, to look at the only thing that her human eyes could see in the darkness of Nora's bedroom― her golden eyes that refused to meet her gaze. Yang climbed out of the window and had heard the panic in Blake's voice when she had asked what the blonde was doing. Cheerfully, Yang had invited her to join her, her hand outstretched to keep the cat Faunus from falling off the roof.

Yang sat herself down next to Blake after she had shut the window closed. If Nora would happen to walk into her room and see that her window was open, she would know that somebody was hanging outside and the quiet place that she had promised Blake would be compromised.

"Sooooo," she pulled her knees closer to her chest, "how've you been? I feel like I haven't seen you in weeks."

It had been two weeks. Not that Yang was counting, but she did remember the last time they saw each other. Blake was being evasive and this quiet place seemed a little bit too quiet for Yang. She was having trouble keeping her head up, her mind fuzzy from all of the drinking.

They barely spoke. No, Yang had spoken quite a few words and Blake was the one who barely said anything. Yang could feel her temper rising, heat rushing to her cheeks as she talked about Amber and what was Blake's response?

"Sure." her voice was so soft that Yang almost didn't hear it.

This was a bad idea. Clearly, the cat Faunus did not want to be here, that she didn't want to talk to Yang. Did she even like Yang at all? Did she even consider her a friend, somebody that she could talk to. This was how you form relationships, wasn't it? Blake was supposed to talk to Yang, to give a piece of herself in their non-existent conversation.

Blake was keeping secrets and Yang was not welcome to know them.

This was entirely hopeless. Yang was too tired, too drunk to even let herself be pissed at Blake's indifference, her unwillingness to open up, to be pissed at herself for thinking of taking advantage of her.

Blake didn't care when she had leaned against her, placed her head against her shoulder, her forehead feeling the cat Faunus' cold chin. Blake didn't care at all.

"Are you drunk?" she asked, hoping that could be the reason why Blake refused to speak, hoping that the other girl hadn't noticed the lust in her eyes when she had dragged her up the stairs.

"No, just thinking." Blake said dryly.

"What are you thinking about?" Yang squared her jaw.

"You know, just some stuff."

"Stop playing the mysterious card on me, Blakey." Yang tried to keep her voice even. It wouldn't do well to let the other girl hear the irritation she felt from her lack of interest and the disappointment that she might not trust Yang enough.

 _Communication is a two-way street. You can tell them everything about yourself, but if they never give a part of themselves to you, even the things that you don't want to hear, then you may never truly know someone._

There was no movement from the other girl, not even a single sound. If Yang had agitated her in any way, the blonde didn't know. When Blake finally responded, she almost jumped, but her words were cryptic, a bunch of words that she must have hoped Yang would not respond to.

It was better than nothing, so Yang humored her with a little bit of knowledge. Her response wasn't as intelligent as she wanted and it might have sounded completely dumb to this girl who had probably read countless books in her lifetime, but it would do. Blake was finally talking to her.

"Ever-changing." Blake added, her voice still as uninterested as ever, "Never the same. Just like time, just like the future. We see what we want to see while something else entirely different happens."

"We want lots of things, Blake."

 _I want you to talk to me, damn it._

"But what if what you want is the one thing that makes you happy and time just had to take it away? You thought it was going to be a constant, but it turns out to be a variable. And you believed it for so long that you don't know what the hell is going on anymore."

Yang straightened herself. Could Blake be talking about Sun. She did notice the way she looked at him, the way she hung around him, but he was downstairs, having the time of his life and Blake was here. She wanted to convince Blake that she didn't need Sun, that **she** was here.

"You know, just because we want something, doesn't mean we need it to be happy. Sometimes, the pain of wanting something hurts a whole lot longer to tide over the good feeling it brings for the split-second that you have it."

 _You don't need him to be happy._

"I don't know what to do." Blake suddenly said and Yang could hear the weight behind it, "I thought I would know when it happens, but it's only made things worse. I'm just as clueless as I was four years ago."

Yang now knew Blake was talking about Sun. Four years? They had only known each other for a month. Blake had wanted Sun for the past four years and he had been oblivious to her feelings. Yang felt extremely terrible for all of the negative thoughts that ran through her mind the entire night.

"Nobody really knows what to do, Blakey." Yang reluctantly placed a hand on her shoulder, afraid of what she might do if she touched her, "We just gotta take things one day at a time. I'll help you through it, okay? I'm always here for you."

 _Didn't you want this? Didn't you want her to talk to you?_

"What if I make the wrong choice?" Blake asked again.

"You know, there really isn't right or wrong. Sometimes you're right, but to someone else, you're not. It's all a matter of living with the consequences."

To have had her would have been right for Yang, but not for Blake. It would have been a betrayal and Yang would have to live with the consequence of losing Blake, losing someone else in her life. Subconsciously, Yang held onto Blake, afraid that she really would leave her.

"Are you gonna be okay, Blake?" she whispered, trying to keep the fear hidden.

"I'll be fine." Blake sighed, "This must be boring conversation for you, huh?"

Yang was pissed because Blake had asked about her again, had worried about her. There was nothing wrong with Yang, but Blake worried about her. A heaviness set in the blonde's chest.

"No, actually, nobody really talks to me about these things, but I think about them all the time."

 _Stop it. Stop talking._

"It's a good feeling knowing that the thoughts in your head turn into real conversations. That they're real."

 _Don't say it out loud, then, Xiao Long._

"It makes you feel, you know, less alone in the world."

But Yang felt alone. She held the cat Faunus in her arms, smelled the vanilla in her hair and remembered the sunshine in her eyes, but Yang could feel that she wasn't entirely there. They were having the same conversation, but with different intentions, different thoughts, revolving around different worlds.

Yang felt a tightening in her chest and a want to hold Blake closer. She wanted Blake to hold onto her, to want her, to need her. But did she really even want to be here? It was Yang who had offered to walk Blake home that day, Yang who wrapped the scarf around her neck, Yang who gave her the keychain.

 _For what? Just so you could feel better about yourself?_

It was Yang who had dragged her up the stairs, Yang who led them out the window and Yang who made her talk about the heartache she was feeling.

 _You never wanted me to, did you?_

"I'm always here for you too, Yang."

The night air was cold, Blake was shivering and the music was lightly shaking the house, but Yang felt nothing. Nothing but the pain from the realization that all this time, Yang had been taking all that she wanted in the guise of friendship, took everything that Blake was not willing to give.

 _But I want you._

 **Chapter 11.25: Amber Fall**

[ Take care, Yang. ]

"You... too..." Yang mouthed the words as she typed.

She was disappointed. She had asked Blake if she wanted to spend time with her again, to walk her home like she had done previously, but the cat Faunus had turned down the offer. Usually, Yang would just brush it off, but the mere mention of Sun Wukong had put her on edge.

She couldn't help but remember how Blake looked at him at Nora's party, how he had casually pressed himself against her at the beer pong table, how he had ignored her to goof around with Neptune.

She grinded her teeth as she waved at Amber in front of Beacon, waiting for the other girl so they could hang out together. Jaune and Pyrrha were nowhere to be found, their Scrolls were off. Nora and Ren were the same and Coco said she was out with Velvet. Ruby had practice that afternoon and wouldn't be home until dinner.

"What's the matter, sweetie?" Amber asked, voice as disinterested as ever, the moment she and Yang had walked to the direction of the blonde's apartment.

"Blake couldn't make it." she said curtly, huffing each time she took a step.

Amber only hummed in response. The same tone she had when they last conversed about the cat Faunus. It was suspicious, doubtful and it had only worsened the foul mood Yang was already in. She stopped in her tracks, turned on her heel and glared at the brunette.

"What is your problem?" Yang almost shouted.

"I don't have a problem." Amber's brown eyes widened in disbelief.

"You keep making that noise whenever I talk about Blake." Yang moved closer, "If you've got a problem with her, you better fucking say it."

"I don't have a problem with Blake." Amber straightened, her face mirrored the angry expression on Yang's face.

"Don't give me that bullshit, Amber."

"You really wanna know what my problem is?" Amber shot back, "My problem is you. What exactly are you trying to do with her, Yang?"

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Yang could no longer hold her anger back. She shouted and passersby had stared, but she didn't care. "I'm trying to be a good fucking person. You guys have been telling me all this useless shit about finding someone and now that I have, you're giving me this bullshit?"

"You should stay away from her, Yang." there was murder in Amber's voice, something Yang had never heard before, but it didn't scare her, not one bit.

"Is it because she's a Faunus?"

"That's not what I―"

"Amber Fall is a fucking racist." Yang turned to walk away. She did not want to have this conversation, she did not want to hear any more mean things about Blake from Amber, her friend, the one friend she thought she could depend on.

"She is a nice girl, Yang." Amber called after her.

"Oh and I'm the fucking villain?" Yang stopped and looked at her, her heart was pounding and her head was spinning. She clenched her fists and bit her lip.

"The way that you are now, Yang, and the way that she is, it's only trouble." Amber replied, never moving an inch when Yang had skidded to a stop right in front of her.

"The way that I am? What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

Amber sighed and the angry scowl on her face turned into a somber expression, worry in her brown eyes and affection in her voice. This was a rare moment and it had not escaped Yang's notice, but she was too mad to mention it.

"You're a lot more confused than she is." Amber said softly, "You can't make people love you, Yang. Did you ever even consider what she could be feeling? You have to stop whatever it is you're doing with her before she gets hurt."

Was that what she was doing? Was she trying to make Blake love her? Since when did Yang Xiao Long sink so low as to convince someone that she should be loved? Her thoughts went back to that night at Nora's party, to the conversation that she and Blake had shared in their drunken stupor. Blake was in pain. She had been for a very long time and Yang never noticed.

 _We see what we want to see while something else entirely different happens._

"Before you get hurt." Amber added softly and it was enough to push Yang over the edge, "She's not another Cardin, Yang, not another Cinder, another one of those people you'd throw away after you realize that you were never really happy with them."

"How dare you?"

"Blake is a really great girl, Yang. She's smart, she's funny and I really think that you and her would be really good for each other, but you have to get it into your thick skull that she may be straight, that she may never love you the way you want her to."

"Fuck you, Amber." Yang was seething, "Who the fuck told you to stick your nose up in my business?"

"Yang, listen to me."

"No, you shut up." Yang shouted again, " You don't get to call me out, not when you never tried to stop me before. And don't you dare think that I don't know that she'll never love me because it's plain as day that she loves someone else."

Yang glared at Amber one last time, making sure that her eyes had warned the other girl not to follow her, to leave her alone when she walked away.

Amber never needed to say those things to her. They weren't things that she had never said to herself before, things that she hadn't figured out on her own. Walking her home, giving her the scarf and the keychain, texting her, talking with her on that rooftop, they were all ways that Yang had thought of to make Blake love her and they didn't work.

 _I want you to love me._

 **Chapter 11.30: 12-14-2016**

It was exams week, but Yang had no interest in her textbooks and notes. She did pretty well in the previous tests, managed to submit all of her homework and papers on time, but lately, she had been distracted.

Her thoughts swirled with a pair of feline ears, soft gentle features and a pair of thin lips that curled into a smile. That was just as distracting as a pair of golden eyes, bright like the afternoon sun and they looked just as warm and inviting like fire gently dancing in the fireplace in the winter.

 _You can't make people love you._

Yang pulled every strand of her hair over the top of her head and covered her face in frustration. She had had enough of chewing on her lip that she could feel her jaw aching from the repeated action. She had hidden herself in her room, pretending that she was studying for the exams, but Ruby had noticed the night before. Her little sister had asked her what was wrong and Yang just smiled and made up some silly excuse about being tired.

 _You're a lot more confused than she is._

Two weeks ago, she couldn't believe the words and accusations that Amber had thrown at her. But now, Yang wasn't so sure if they were all untrue. Still, her uncertainty was not enough to convince her that Amber was right.

She threw her head back, most of her golden locks had followed the motion, but the stray ones she led with her hands, massaging her aching skull in an effort to calm her nerves. She grabbed her Scroll lying flat on her bed and stared at the lockscreen, at the photo of a six-year-old Blake Belladonna smiling at her in a sheep costume.

 _She may never love you the way you want her to._

She unlocked the device and went straight to the messaging app. There was no point trying to study now. Yang knew what she wanted to do. Well, the second thing that she wanted to do. It was already late and she wasn't sure if Blake was going to answer a call from her anyway. This was the safest option.

[ Blake? ]

With trembling hands and bated breath, Yang sent the message and pressed the device against her chest, staring at the ceiling. She remembered that night at Nora's party, that moment that she had stopped herself from pulling the other girl into the bed, the moment she had almost stolen much more than glances at her.

 _But I want you._

Yang forced her eyes shut and waited, but the only thing that could silence her raging thoughts would be the sound of her Scroll. But it was silent and so the voices screamed unhindered, deafening in her head, ringing truths and half-truths that tried to force themselves out.

 _It's a good feeling knowing that the thoughts in your head turn into real conversations. That they're real. It makes you feel less alone in the world._

That was a half-truth. For the first time in a long time, Yang had felt like she had found somebody she could talk to, somebody she could share pieces of herself with. But it was also the moment that she had realized just how alone she felt, having sat next to a girl that she couldn't stop thinking about, the girl whose heart was breaking for somebody else.

That feeling of emptiness she felt on the rooftop that night was not new to her. She had faintly felt it before, but she had surrendered to her wants then, took all that she could get and set it aside before it reached the surface.

 _Keep your filthy mouth shut, Xiao Long. Don't even admit it to yourself. This can't be happening. This wasn't how it was supposed to be._

The sound of her Scroll had stopped her thoughts and Yang smiled when she had seen Blake's name on her screen.

[ Yes, Yang? ]

She could almost imagine her saying it, could almost hear the softness in her voice, the feeling of silk and the scent of vanilla wafting in the air that Yang wanted to breathe in.

[ How are you? :) ]

Then she was back to waiting, back to drown in the selfish thoughts that she had that drunken night, the thoughts that had lingered in the back of her throat, the thoughts that she feared the most.

 _This isn't right. You can't, Yang. You've been acting like a selfish bitch all this time, you can't want more. You can't feel this way._

[ I'm okay. And you? ]

 _Don't you fucking dare say it, not even to yourself. It can't be true._

[ I'm good. Are you sure? ]

It wasn't the fear of feeling that had clutched at Yang Xiao Long's chest, that had her fighting back the tears that had already fallen before she realized it. It was the fear of feeling it so freely and never have it returned.

 _Please, Yang, stop._

[ Well, I'm a little stressed with exams, but I'm okay. ]

 _She's not another Cardin, not another Cinder, another one of those people you'd throw away after you realize that were never really happy with them._

But Yang was happy to be texting her right now, to talk to her when they did, to see her smile, to hear her laughing, to see the sunshine in her eyes and to feel the warmth of home whenever Blake was around her.

[ I'm here if you ever wanna talk, okay? ]

 _Don't say it, Yang. Save yourself the trouble._

[ I know, Yang. ]

 _You can't want more. You can't keep taking more than she's willing to give._

[ Thank you. ]

 _I want you to love me._

[ And you can talk to me anytime, too. :) ]

 _We see what we want to see while something else entirely different happens._

[ BLAKE USED AN EMOTICON! ]

 _You have to get it into your thick skull that she may be straight._

[ Screenshot. ]

 _You can't make people love you._

[ I gotta study now. You should too. Don't want your grades slipping, do you? ]

 _Because I think I love you._

[ Hell no. Good luck. ]

 _Please don't leave me._

[ Good luck to you too, Yang. ]

 _I know I love you._

It wasn't the fear of falling in love that had crushed Yang Xiao Long's heart, that had her sobbing into her orange pillow, unable to keep her voice down. It was the fear of falling in love so freely and never see that love returned, to never see that smile, the sun shining in amber eyes, the voice that she longed to hear, the lips that she wanted to kiss.

Her pillows would hold her secrets, her wants, her desires, her love, her fears.

 _She may never love you the way you want her to._

 **Chapter 11.5: Yang Xiao Long**

"Amber," Yang sighed, "I need to talk to you."

Yang had found herself in Amber's apartment, silently staring at an equally quiet Amber who was holding a steaming mug of tea in her hands. She had offered to give some to Yang, but the blonde had never really liked tea and had more pressing matters to attend to.

Amber Fall, the Mom Friend, the person Yang had trusted, the person who had warned her about her actions, who had called her out on her selfish efforts to make a straight Blake Belladonna fall in love with her, was the only person she could talk to now.

What was she hoping to achieve after this conversation? She had already figured her feelings out. She was in love with Blake and she wanted to keep the cat Faunus in her life, but she could only assume that Amber would have better options than to keep pretending that her feelings don't exist.

"I didn't think you'd pick up." Yang slipped her hands into the pockets of her jacket, her lilac eyes refusing to look at Amber. She had an apology at the back of her throat, but she wasn't ready to give it out yet.

"I'm sorry about what I said last time." Amber began, sadness in her once monotonous voice, as she carefully placed her mug on the coffee table in front of them, "I'm sorry about everything that I did. It wasn't the best course of action, but I was really worried about you, Yang."

Yang forced herself to smile. Misguided her actions may have been, Amber's intentions were pure, her motivations were to keep Yang from making a bigger mess of things.

"I'm sorry about what I said too." Yang peeked through her unruly blonde bangs and saw the pain in Amber's brown eyes, "But you were right though. I had been acting on impulse, acting on the need to feel less lonely."

She could feel heat rising to her eyes. Yang sucked on her lip again and stared at her feet, firmly planted on Amber's faded gray rug. Her bangs had masterfully fallen in front of her eyes, shielding her tears from the other girl's view.

"You were right." her voice shook, "I was confused and I― I never really thought about how she felt at all. I want her and I was this close to taking advantage of her, Amber."

Without a word, Amber had gotten up from the couch she had been sitting on and padded over to her crying friend. She wrapped her arms around Yang's neck and held her close.

"I'm just as terrible as Cardin." it had escaped Yang's lips before she could even think about the words. She cursed herself for her lack of verbal filter, but that was how she felt.

"Shhh..." Amber cooed, her hand softly squeezing Yang's shoulder, "You're nothing like Cardin, Yang."

"But I can't help feeling this way." she sobbed, "I can't help wanting her and I can't help feeling like a damn traitor every time I see her."

"There's nothing wrong with loving someone, Yang."

"It's a huge fucking mistake if it means she'll hate me. I can't, Amber. I can't keep wanting her. I can't love her and pretend that I don't just to keep her around and I can't pretend that I don't love her a little bit more when I see her."

"I'm sorry, Yang." was all Amber could say and holding her close was all she could do.

That was how the two friends were for another hour, until Yang had already shed all her tears and Amber could no longer feel her arms. For a short moment, the blonde had returned to her cheery self, joking about using Amber's shirt as a tissue. Amber didn't mind, but had retrieved a box of tissues for the blonde just in case.

Another ten minutes of listening to the sound of Yang Xiao Long blowing her nose and drying her eyes, they had settled into a feeling of calm. The blonde had cried her heart out, had poured all of her anguish and pain, her fear of rejection into her tears that had soaked through Amber's shirt.

"You have to tell her how you feel." Amber broke the silence in her signature monotone, had said the words as if it were the only option that was available.

That was not what Yang had in mind. She had voiced her concern the entire time that she had been crying against the other girl's chest. If she were to utter a single word of her affections for Blake, the straight cat Faunus who was in love with someone else would reject her.

Yang Xiao Long had been rejected before, but she never wanted to see hatred and disappointment in those golden eyes.

"I already told you," Yang blew her nose, "I can't if it means she'll stop talking to me."

"You don't know that."

"Neither do you." Yang said harshly and quickly muttered an apology. She was the one who came to Amber for help, "I can't take that risk. Amber. I've already made too much hasty decisions and had actually gotten suspended for them."

She winked at Amber despite the tears that stained her cheeks, the soreness in her eyes and the pain in her throat. It must have looked pathetic, but this was Amber. She had seen much more of Yang's pathetic behavior than this.

"You're gonna get hurt." the other girl said softly, a hand squeezed Yang's shoulder.

"I already am."


	15. Convergence

Six days, five hours and fifteen minutes.

It had been six days, five hours and fifteen minutes since Yang Xiao Long had said that she would see Blake Belladonna at Coco's party.

It had also been one hour and twenty-eight minutes since the cat Faunus had called her for the third time that day, the twelfth that week and Yang didn't pick up, nor did she respond to any of the twenty-three text messages that Blake had sent her.

Twenty-four.

[ Yang, call me when you get this, okay? ]

"Who is it?" Amber, bored monotone as always, pushed the shopping cart right next to her, a pack of garbage bags in her hand.

Yang couldn't stand to look into her worried brown eyes. Amber knew who the message was from, she just didn't approve of why she never answered the calls or replied. She even made it a point to let Yang know whenever she could. Once every fifteen minutes was not enough.

"I don't get why we have to do the shopping **and** the cooking for tonight," Yang pointedly ignored Amber's question and pretended to read the directions printed on the back of a deodorant tube.

If irritation occurs, discontinue use.

"I don't get why you're avoiding her." Amber announced, throwing a pack of paper towels into the cart.

"I'm not avoiding her!" Yang put the deodorant back on the shelf and ran a hand through her hair, biting her lip to keep herself from saying anything more. They had already talked about this and she had no intentions of talking about it again.

The plan was set. All Yang had to do was keep her feelings in check and stay calm when the time comes that she and Blake would have to be in the same room. The first step was to distance herself and hope that the feelings are only influenced by prolonged proximity. But she knew that was a lie. She hadn't seen Blake in almost a month now, but the briefest thought of the cat Faunus stirred trouble inside of her.

They looked through their shopping list one last time and checked to see if they had everything that they needed and everything that Coco had asked for. Satisfied, they proceeded to the checkout lane and stood in line.

"Remind me again why you're not answering her calls." Amber teased with a crooked grin.

"Shut it, you." Yang huffed, her arms folded over her chest.

"Sweetie, ignoring her is not going to help." Amber said softly, brushing a stray lock of hair off of Yang's shoulder, "You say you don't wanna lose her, but you're already pushing her away."

Yang sighed, "I just need to keep a little bit of space between us. I have to mentally prepare myself for tonight because she's gonna be there and there will be drinking and I just can't stop thinking about Nora's party. "

 _What the fuck was I thinking?_

"She probably didn't notice, Yang."

"I don't want her to hate me." Yang turned away, the heat was rising to her cheeks, about to leak out of her eyes. Not here in such a public setting.

Amber gave her shoulder a squeeze, "She's not going to hate you, Yang. You should really just talk to her."

"Why don't **you** talk to her?" Yang brushed Amber's hand away and glared at her. That was easier said than done. Of course, Yang wanted to talk to Blake. Of course, she wanted to see her smile, to hear voice, to look into her eyes, to kiss her lips.

 _No. Stop it. Bad, Yang!_

"I don't think she likes me very much." Amber shrugged, pushing the cart a little bit further. Only one more person until it was their turn.

"Why not?" Yang raised an eyebrow at her. The other girl was avoiding her gaze, even pulling out her Scroll and pretending to look at something. "Velvet said that you two were talking each other's' ears off before. Why do you think she doesn't like you?"

Amber slowly tilted her head in Yang's direction, shame and anxiety reflecting in her brown eyes, "I just want you to know that my intentions were good."

"Amber." Yang used her scolding-mother-tone, the tone reserved for Ruby whenever the younger girl would do something Yang did not approve of.

"I was just looking out for you― for both of you."

"Amber." Yang said louder.

The man in front of them left with his bag of groceries. The two girls pushed the cart forward, placing their items on the counter to be checked out, eyes still locked onto each other. No, Yang's eyes were fixed on Amber, but the other girl's brown eyes darted left to right.

"I kinda told her to stay away from you―"

"What the fuck?"

"You were being dangerously flirty―"

"Why would you do that?" Yang raised her voice.

"I was worried about you." Amber said softly, apologetically, shrinking into herself the moment she finally looked Yang in the eyes.

Yang could only imagine how that had happened. Velvet said that Amber and Blake were deep in conversation when they hung out, so it must have been afterwards? Did Amber tell her before or after they left the cafe? No wonder Blake had avoided her at Nora's party.

Seeing the pained expression on the other girl's face and hearing the sincerity in her normally monotonous voice, Yang couldn't find it in herself to be mad at Amber. Not after she had already forgiven her for it. It takes real guts to stab your friend in the front.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Yang feigned annoyance, but her voice had dropped in volume.

"I was going to tell you," Amber shrugged, "but you told me to fuck myself."

 _She may never love you the way you want her to._

"This is much worse than I thought." Yang groaned, burying both her hands into her long blonde hair, chewing on her lip.

[ Where are you? ]

Blake forcefully tapped the send button and waited until the device confirmed that the message had been sent. She stood in front of the window in the living room of their home, staring into the dimly lit street outside. Sun said that he and Scarlet would pick her up ten minutes ago, but the blue SUV was nowhere to be seen.

"Did you talk to her yet?" Ghira said softly, resting his hand on her shoulder. She wasn't surprised at all. She had heard his heavy footfalls coming from the kitchen seconds ago.

"She's not picking up my calls." Blake said softly, her shoulders falling a little from both defeat and the weight of her father's hand. Her feline ears twitched at the sound of her mother approaching them.

"A party is hardly a fitting place to talk to her." Kali stood beside her and looked out the window, "It doesn't seem very romantic."

"I don't have much of a choice." Blake forced herself to laugh, to mask the disappointment that was gnawing in her stomach and pulling at her chest. She had wanted to talk to Yang sooner, to finally tell her how she felt, but the other woman wasn't answering her Scroll or replying to any of her messages.

 _Rejected even before the actual rejection. Great._

Blake wanted to go back to her room and bury herself under her sheets. She knew how this story would end. Spoiler alert: Yang would tell her that they should just be friends and the two of them would try to pretend that Blake never said anything. In that pretense, they would drift apart and eventually stop talking to each other because of all the awkwardness looming in the air around them.

But Blake was through with hiding and running away from her feelings. She had spent four years dreaming of sunrises and three months basking in its warmth. Tonight, she had to make sure that the sun was going to rise and that the warmth was going to envelope her, not slip away into the cold, unforgiving night.

"You're dressed warmly, right?" Ghira gently nudged her, purposefully reminding her of that time that she almost froze herself to impress Yang.

"Yes, dad." Blake groaned and rolled her eyes, barely catching the headlights of the blue SUV that she had been waiting for, "They're here. I have to go."

She made a dash for the door, her key jangling in her pocket with the keychain that Yang had given her, before her parents could say their goodbyes and wish her good luck and before Sun Wukong could push his head out of the vehicle's window. She quickly slipped into the backseat next to the monkey Faunus and waved at her parents standing on the front porch.

They would probably wait up for her, sitting in the living room and wait for her to barge in with tears in her eyes and a broken heart. She would be ready for that to happen too, but a tiny, tiny part of her heart held onto hope. She'll have to trust that when she would stand in front of the woman she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.

"I hope we won't have to play that disgusting game again." Scarlet giggled.

"Coco said that it'll just be a chill get together." Neptune groaned, the memory of the Death Spin Bottle still clear on his mind.

"Who else is gonna be there?" Blake asked aloud. She had to know if Yang really was going to be there and that tonight wouldn't be another night of calling and texting somebody who wouldn't reply. Her resolve was beginning to weaken and her patience was wearing thin. If she couldn't talk to the blonde sooner, she would have to go to her apartment.

"Velvet, Ren and Nora." Neptune began counting off, "Jaune, Pyrrha, Ruby, Yang―"

 _At least I wouldn't have to ask people where she lives._

"Sage and Neon aren't back from their vacation yet." Sun added, waggling his eyebrows and nudging Blake with his elbow.

"Coco and Amber." Scarlet finished the roll call, calmly hitting the brakes when the light turned red.

Without a word, Sun turned to her, his blue eyes filled with questions and concerns and Blake looked at him with as much worry as her amber eyes could convey. She had called him the day before, to tell him about how her parents had pulled her out of the closet, how her communication with Yang was getting infrequent and, of course, how she planned on telling the blonde how she felt. Sun, ever-supportive and the ultimate wingman, immediately ended the call. Half an hour later, he was devouring a sandwich in the Belladonna kitchen and discussing a kidnapping with the cat Faunus.

There was only one thing to do and despite the varying circumstances, it was the only one that she had to do: she was going to tell Yang how she felt. It doesn't matter where or when or who else was going to be around to hear. It doesn't matter what would happen after either. Blake needed Yang to know and she deserved to hear it before they ultimately stop talking to each other.

Blake was fuelled by her courage and determination even as she stood in front of Coco Adel's apartment door, even as she walked into the living room and was greeted by the sight of an immaculately spotless room. Coco's apartment was as stylish as she was and strangely decorated with white furniture and a single black coffee table in the middle.

"Glad you could make it, Blake." her Faunus ears had failed to pick up the approach of Velvet Scarlatina, arms opened to wrap her in a warm hug. Right behind the rabbit Faunus was the hostess herself.

"The girls say dinner will be ready in ten." Coco grinned. Even in her own apartment at eight-thirty in the evening, Coco was still wearing a pair of sunglasses and a beret.

"Thank you for inviting me." Blake nodded towards her, eyes looking over the layout of the apartment out of habit.

Jaune and Pyrrha were sitting on the white living room couch in a corner of the room. Right next to it was a sliding door that led to a wide balcony, decked with white wicker furniture. To the right was a little hallway that must lead to the bathroom and the master bedroom and to the left was where the kitchen and dining area were.

She could hear murmured arguments coming from that part of the apartment, a few pots and pans dancing over the stove and eating utensils being moved around. Velvet had said that tonight's party was more like a formal get-together and that meant that the music wouldn't be too loud, if there was even going to be any music. Most of all, nothing was going to get in Blake's way.

"Dinner's ready, you guys." soft, sultry monotone. She did not need to turn to the direction of the kitchen to know who that voice belonged to. How could she have forgotten that Amber Fall was going to be here?

 _Please stay away from Yang. You'll only get hurt._

The heaviness started creeping into Blake's chest at the thought of having to deal with the other woman tonight. Of course, she considered Amber in her plans, but that never stopped her from hoping that she would be unhindered in her suicide mission. The creeping heaviness crashed into her with great intensity the minute she had heard a soft giggle dripping with the sweetness of honey.

Blake turned around, ready to be washed over by the sunrise and was even ready to look over the disapproving stare of Amber. But the sun had decided to set. The brief moment that they looked at each other, saw each other, Yang quickly circled back into the kitchen.

She could feel the courage gradually ebbing away and her heart crumbling in her chest. Even if Amber wasn't here, even if everyone else had left, there was still the knowledge that Yang herself was getting in Blake's way― by keeping away.

She barely ate anything and was silent throughout dinner. She noted how Yang had waited for her to take her seat, noted that the blonde woman intentionally sat far away from her, noted how she never even once glanced her way.

 _Does she know I like her?_

Blake had been particularly careful in the last few weeks. She had trained herself to look at Yang and not wish for the sunrise and the warmth. She made sure not to stare too long and not to laugh too much around her.

Nobody really liked uncertainty and Blake hated the myriads of questions that keep assaulting her mind. She had to know for sure that Yang did not reciprocate her feelings, if their relationship was going to slowly reduce to nothing. There was still a chance to save their friendship. Blake would love to know that she was going to spend the rest of her life with just a fraction of Yang's love.

And that should be enough.

But try as she might, Blake could never seem to get closer to the blonde. After dinner, Yang quickly retreated into the kitchen, pulling Amber Fall with her. Blake was going to chase after her, but Nora had jumped out of nowhere, handing her a bottle of cold beer. To make matters worse, she was dragged out back into the living room where she was met with an audible attack of pop music and chattering.

"Did you talk to her yet?" Sun Wukong tapped her shoulder with the tip of his monkey tail, a beer bottle in his hand.

Blake shook her head as she leaned closer, "She's avoiding me. She's stuck to Amber like glue."

Sun pouted and hummed, pressing the tip of his beer bottle to his lips in concentration, "Are you sure you wanna go through with this?"

Blake allowed herself a moment of doubt as she looked up into his bright blue eyes. She knew what was at risk, but even if she didn't say anything, Yang was already pulling away and the distance between them would only lead to a lifetime of tiptoeing around each other.

If she were being honest, Blake had already loved Yang the moment she had opened her eyes in that kitchen with the white marble countertops and dark wood cupboards, when she had gently pressed her lips against the cat Faunus' forehead. Four years of pretending that that never affected her was torture and two of those years she had been tortured by Cardin and she had eventually fought back, tired of feeling like she never deserved anything she had.

Tonight, she was going to fight back too. Tonight, she was no longer going to deny herself her own feelings even if it meant staring at the anger in Amber's eyes, even if it meant getting hurt in the end.

"I've never been more sure in my entire life." Blake managed a small smile, hoping that Sun could see the gratitude she felt for him on her lips.

He smiled back and the tenderness in his eyes were reassuring, "What's the plan?"

"I walk up to her and tell her how I feel." Blake said dryly. What else was she supposed to do?

"That's not gonna work." Sun clapped her on the shoulder, "It has to be romantic, Blake. Why don't we get someone to change the music to set the mood and maybe we could―"

"Sun, no." she laughed, the anxiety fading from her. He always had the grandest schemes and plots at the top of his head, but Blake had experienced, first-hand, how those schemes and plots failed her. "I have to do this my way."

Sun shrugged, "Alright. But what about Amber?"

"I don't care about Amber." Blake shot a furious look towards the kitchen. Amber and Yang were still in there and Blake wrestled her imagination back to her goal. "I need to talk to Yang."

"I have a plan!" Sun beamed at her.

"Of course, you do." Blake rolled her eyes.

"I thought you were going to stop avoiding her." Amber folded her arms over her chest.

Yang bit her lip, her own arms folded and her lilac eyes burning holes into the kitchen floor, "I'm not avoiding her."

"Then why are you in here?" Amber snorted.

Yang said nothing. She just glared at Amber, irritated by the amusement the other girl dared to express in front of her, irritated by how she could easily voice Yang's intentions as if she were an open book.

She opened her mouth to speak, but the words had escaped her. She didn't need to say anything anyway. Amber already knew what she was going to say, what she was thinking, what she was feeling.

"I don't want her to hate me." Yang said softly this time, "I can't help how I feel around her. I can't help feeling like a lovesick puppy when she looks at me, but she'll hate me if she finds out. I can't live with that."

People come and go, but for Yang, most of them always left for thousands of reasons; some, she knew and some reasons she had stopped searching for as she got older. But if her want to be loved by Blake would be a reason for the cat Faunus to hate her, to turn away from her, that was something Yang didn't want to carry around on her shoulders.

"Yang―" Amber began, but she stopped the minute she saw Blake walk into the kitchen, staring into a pair of angry amber eyes.

Yang noticed how Amber was suddenly quiet. She was never suddenly quiet. Curious to see what could have made her this way, Yang looked behind her, over her shoulder and past her messy blonde hair and felt her heart race, her head pounding and heat rising to her cheeks.

"Hi." Blake said coolly, golden eyes looking expectantly at them and lingered on Yang half a second longer.

"Hi." the word tumbled out of her lips, her eyes involuntarily glancing over the frown on the other girl's thin lips, blinking back the want to know how soft they must be.

The air was charged with multiple emotions battling to dominate one another under the cover of silence. Yang shoved her hands into the pockets of her favorite bomber jacket, her eyes searching for something else to keep her from reaching out to the cat Faunus.

She never realized just how much she had missed her until she heard the softness in the other girl's voice, devoid of anger or annoyance. Blake had every right to be mad since it was evident that Yang hadn't answered her calls or responded to her messages. It might not be in the way she spoke, but Yang knew fury when she had seen it in gold.

"I need to talk to you." Blake said, her voice as flat as the cat ears on her head. Yang couldn't help but look into her eyes again, expecting to see disappointment and anger, but Blake's eyes were wide with anguish.

Yang could feel the weight of the universe bearing down on her heart. She had only ever seen Blake this sad once and it was that one night that she had realized just how much the other girl meant to her and how she came close to devaluing the other girl.

"Alone." The cat Faunus said sharply, golden eyes flashing menacingly at Amber.

Before she could even think of an excuse or wonder why Blake was glaring at Amber, the cat Faunus had grabbed her by the wrist and gently pulled her out of the kitchen. Nora had greeted them when they passed by the living room, trying to convince the two of them to sit with her and Ren, but Blake waved her away and walked forward.

Yang never said anything when Blake had opened the front door of Coco's apartment. She never said anything when they were both alone in the hallway either. She could feel their dinner rising to her throat. Ever since she had seen Blake at the dinner table, she wanted to be alone with her, but dreaded actually being alone with her. How can someone feel two contradicting feelings at the same time?

"Yang," Blake released her wrist and stood in front of her, "why weren't you answering my calls?"

She swallowed the lump on her throat and nervously looked at Blake, "I was busy."

She lied. She lied and Blake knew it, but the other girl said nothing. The determined expression that Blake had earlier gave way to disappointment. She fought the tears and the urge to wrap her arms around the other girl. No, Yang needed space. She needed to be in control.

But looking straight into Blake's golden eyes, Yang felt that control rushing out of her. She kept her expression calm despite the torrent of emotions she felt inside, kept her lips shut tight despite the want to press them against Blake's, she folded her arms over her chest despite wanting to have the cat Faunus in her embrace.

 _You can't keep taking more than she's willing to give._

"Yang, I—"

There was a crashing sound at the end of the hallway and one of the apartment doors had opened, a silver-haired guy about the same age as them tried to keep himself up. Yang looked inside where had come from and saw a green-haired girl glaring at the back of his head.

"You're drunk again, Merc." The green-haired girl leaned against the door frame.

"I'm— I'm—" the guy stammered, "not drunk, Em."

"Bullshit!" She shot back and it had started an argument between the two of them, a loud one that had invited the other tenants out of their apartments and trying to calm the fighting couple down in less than five minutes. Coco had even decided to join in their shouting, pushing past Blake and Yang so she could get closer to her neighbors.

This must happen a lot.

"It's the fucking new year!" She shouted, pushing her sunglasses back up the bridge of her nose.

For the first time since they had met, Yang had heard Blake groan and pinch the bridge of her nose. It was pretty clear that this argument was not going to end in the next ten minutes and Yang knew Blake was going to say something earlier.

The realization shook Yang to the core. Blake was going to say something that needed to be said in private, that needed to be said sooner. Could she possibly know that Yang Xiao Long harbored romantic feelings for her? Was she going to tell Yang to back off?

But Blake was the one who approached her. This time, Blake was the one who pulled her out of the room, out into the hallway before Coco's neighbors had interrupted them.

"Let's go back inside." Blake grabbed her by the wrist again and pulled her back into the apartment, once again ignoring the others who had asked them what was happening out in the hall.

"Coco's neighbors are fighting." Yang nervously laughed. It wasn't a lie and she knew that it was going to be enough to keep their normally meddlesome friends from pestering them. She briefly locked eyes with Amber who only looked at her in confusion. Then Yang flashed a smile at her little sister, sitting next to her friend.

Yang stared at the back of Blake's head, noticing how the other girl's feline ears kept twitching about, but always flattening forward every now and then. She looked at her wrist where Blake held her, feeling how cold Blake's fingers were against her own skin.

She was worried when Blake released her and struggled to open the sliding door that led to Coco's apartment balcony. It was freezing outside and Yang had felt it seep into her bones when she, Amber and Ruby were cleaning up. The very thing that troubled Yang the most was how her companion was easily cold and the sight of her shivering would quickly pull Yang in to hug her.

 _Help me. I can't control myself._

Step one was done.

She and Yang were now completely alone and hopefully, Coco's neighbors wouldn't decide to continue their argument out on the balcony of their own apartment. She didn't know what she would do if she were ever interrupted again, but she was sure she wouldn't be able to rein in her temper.

Yang was still not saying anything, still keeping at least a foot and a half away from her, still hiding the sunrise in her eyes with her bangs. This moment may or may not be the last time that she could ever be this close to the blonde woman that had filled her nightly dreams.

Blake took a step closer, to maybe convince Yang to look at her, but the blonde had only moved back, pressing her waist against the railing and her arms tight around herself. She felt her feline ears twitch when the cold night air swept over them.

"Yang." She said softly, desperately trying not to let her voice shake. Still, Yang had refused to look at her.

Yang studied the white wicker chairs on the balcony, forcing herself to think of different thoughts, thoughts that did not involve anything a little too friendly about the girl standing before her. Her eyes flew towards the living room, noticing how Sun Wukong was standing there with a beer bottle in his hand and staring at them.

She bit her lip, running her tongue over that certain spot where Cardin had punched her. It seemed like a lifetime ago when in truth, it had only been almost four months ago. Four months since she first met Blake. Four months. Not four years.

She fought the urge to go back inside and berate Sun. How can you not realize that somebody loves you so deeply? How can you not realize that somebody as caring and thoughtful as Blake loved you for the past four years?

Yang was grateful that Amber had pulled Sun aside, turning his back to give the two girls some privacy. That was one of the things that the brunette had thought of to make up for her extreme actions.

Blake noticed how Yang was no longer paying attention to her. Not that she really was the entire evening, but she was watching something intently. She turned around, to look into the living room at the sight of Sun and Amber talking to each other.

She smiled to herself. This was step two. Sun was supposed to keep a close watch on them, to stand guard while Blake and Yang talked. Most of all, Sun would distract Amber.

Blake felt bile forming in her throat. She knew this was wrong, knew that she had no right to get in between Yang and Amber, knew that this crazy stunt of hers was not only going to embarrass and hurt her, but would be reason enough for Yang to cut ties with her entirely.

Constants and variables.

She knew that what she felt for Yang was real. It had been real even before she knew it and she had to say it the way it had to be said, the way that Blake Belladonna would say it. If this were the last time, she had to say it all.

No holding back now.

"Yang." She said again, a little bit louder, but not at all less gentle. She had said her name, been saying it dozens of times throughout the day. "Did I do something wrong?"

Yang held her breath and looked at her directly for the first time in weeks, uninhibited and worried, "No."

It was all she could manage to say for if she said anything more, she might just tell Blake all that she felt about her, tell her things that Yang was going to regret.

"Then what's wrong?" Blake whispered.

"Nothing's wrong." Yang forced herself to smile, hugging herself tighter than before.

Blake was at a loss for words. Something was wrong. Everything was wrong. Yang was standing right in front of her, but it felt as if she were half a continent away, out of reach and slipping further and further away. She took one step closer, knew that there was nowhere else Yang could go. She was trapped and Blake had to keep her there, to keep herself from crumbling to the floor.

Gently, she placed her hands over the blonde's shoulders, taking one more step to close the distance between them. She looked right into her eyes, right into the sunrise of home, the scent of apples lingering in the air and Yang's warmth sheltering her from the January breeze.

She circled her arms around Yang's neck and buried her face into the crook of the other woman's neck, afraid to let go. Afraid that, if she would blink, she might find herself back in Madame Leona's tent, that she might find herself in front of Bailey Hall after Cardin had attacked her.

"You're slipping away again." She whispered, not caring whether Yang understood just how many times she had let the blonde go.

Yang felt her mouth go dry. She never realized just how much she had made Blake worry about her. It was a love that Yang felt she didn't deserve, but a love that she couldn't help but want more of. This has to be enough. This was enough, but at the same time, it wasn't.

Slowly, she pulled her arms from in between them. She raised her arms, ready to envelope the other girl in a warm embrace, but fear got the better of her. She can't want her. She can't let the smell of vanilla, the curve of her smile and the sunshine in Blake's eyes cloud her judgment. They were friends. Nothing more and Yang did not want them to be anything less.

"I'm still here." Yang whispered back, her arms falling to her side.

"You're never around anymore." All hesitation and fear escaped her and Blake pressed herself closer, eyes shut tight to keep the tears from falling.

Yang felt her own heart breaking in her chest, shattering into tiny pieces that she was sure the wind would take with it. It was never her intention to hurt Blake. She wanted to see her smile, to make her happy, to keep her close.

But, damn it, she wanted to pull her closer. So she did.

She wrapped her arms around the other girl's waist and pressed her cheek against the top of Blake's head, careful not to touch her feline ears, "I'll always be here for you, Blake."

"I can't do this anymore." Blake said, pulling herself out of Yang's embrace. She didn't want to, but she had to look at Yang when she had said her piece. She wanted to see Yang's reaction because the blonde's words were vague and all four of her ears were a little too hopeful.

Yang quickly pushed her hands into her pockets before she would pull the other girl back into her arms, but she kept her eyes on Blake's. The other girl was clearly upset and Yang didn't deserve to stop her from taking out her frustrations on her. Blake had been trying to talk to her for the past few days after all.

"I can accept that you would rather be with Amber," Blake raised her voice, ignoring the ridiculously beautiful confused expression on Yang's face, "but I can't deal with you ignoring me, not picking up my calls or responding to my messages. Something **is** wrong and I know you don't want to tell me."

Blake stopped herself and looked at Yang, allowed herself to bathe in her warmth, to bask in the sunrise in her lilac eyes. This was not a ten-lien vision in the dark tent of the fairgrounds in Menagerie. This was Coco's apartment balcony and the woman standing before her was real. She couldn't hold back now.

"I don't want to be without you." Blake added in a whisper, the words tumbling out with the sigh that had escaped her lips, "You're beautiful and kind, sweet and thoughtful and you never made me feel like I was anything less because I'm a Faunus. You don't even care about the ears on top of my head."

"I do care, actually." Yang said before she could stop herself.

Blake took a step back, her ears flattened against her skull, trying to bury it into her long black hair. All this time, she thought her feline ears never mattered to Yang, but they did. Her amber eyes studied Yang's face, searching for some sort of comfort and seeing the other woman's rosy cheeks turn bright red despite the darkness of the night.

"They're a part of you." Yang softly added, hoping that what she had just said wouldn't prompt the cat Faunus to walk away, to ignore her for the rest of their lives, "I love everything about you."

Once more, Yang failed to stop herself. She tried to think of something fast, to find an excuse for the slip of her tongue. Her mind was failing her. Her feelings were too strong and too hard to control. She knew Blake heard her clearly. She remembered how the cat Faunus had told her how she could hear a pin drop in the middle of a noisy room. She was a fool to think that Blake wouldn't have heard what she had just said.

"What?" Blake hadn't run away. She was rooted to the ground, trying to find meaning in what Yang had just said. Her ears were too hopeful and since she had four, her hope was starting to convince her heart to jump out of her chest.

Yang knew there was no taking back what she had just said. She would never find another time to say it again. She steeled herself and looked into Blake's eyes as if the sunshine would never return. Her legs were too weak to take a step forward and she could only whisper, "I love everything about you."

Yang held her breath and waited for Blake to turn and leave. She didn't want to correct herself. No, she didn't want to pretend to correct herself. She loved Blake for quite some time now. It wasn't when they first met, it wasn't when she had first walked her home, but it had happened after. She didn't know exactly when, but she was sure that she loved her now.

Blake blinked again, wishing that this was real, that Yang had in fact told her that she loved everything about her, that maybe she loved her the way she loved Yang. She took a step forward and noticed that Yang hadn't moved an inch. She took another step forward followed by another until she was close enough to smell the apples that hung around the blonde.

"I'm sorry." Yang said softly and Blake could see the sorrow inside them, rain threatening to cloud the sunrise.

"You shouldn't apologize for the things that make you happy." Blake remembered Yang's words when the blonde had given her the keychain.

Yang slowly leaned closer, unable to resist the pull much longer. When Blake slightly tilted her head and pressed her lips against hers, Yang had forgotten why she had been scared the entire night, why she had kept her distance in the first place. For Blake, this was what she should have done when she had found herself in that kitchen, when Yang had held her in front of Bailey Hall, when they were alone on the rooftop of Nora's house. So much wasted time for a kiss that she longed to share with the woman of her dreams.

They pulled away and stared into each other's' eyes, hearts beating wildly in their chests and minds swirling in bliss. All thoughts and worry forgotten in the moment.

"You have the sunrise in your eyes." Blake whispered and Yang's eyes only widened to encompass the horizon that only the cat Faunus could see.

"Yours must be the sun then." Yang replied.

If Blake's eyes could grow any wider, they would have fallen out of her skull. Her breath caught in her throat and her heart stopped. A smile slowly spread across her lips, a smile that Yang had wanted to see and this time, Yang was sure that Blake's smile was for her.

Yang gently placed her hands just above the Faunus' elbows, pulling her a little bit closer for a kiss that she wanted to take, a kiss that the other girl was willing to give. The moment that their lips had brushed against each other, Blake's hand shot up to tangle her fingers into Yang's golden hair, pulling the blonde closer.

This. This was definitely what love felt like, freely dancing on their lips, filling their lungs with the warmth that they exchanged. A piece of Yang and a piece of Blake. There was no hesitation if they had wanted more because they were both ready to give more.

Blake tilted her head to the side to taste the honey on the other woman's lips, to better kiss the spot that Yang always chewed on when she was nervous, to kiss away the pain that might still linger from when Cardin had hit her. Yang did not deserve the pain, she deserved tenderness.

They both saw reminders of home in each other's' eyes, of happy memories, the warm beaches in between Blake's toes and the fireplace from Yang's childhood, but there will be new memories. There will be warmth because home wouldn't be trapped in the galaxies in their eyes anymore, but the warmth in their embrace.

This was the convergence of time that Blake Belladonna had fought and fought for, the truths and lies that had wrestled in her mind; and this was the eruption of space, the eternal void that had once been looming in Yang's heart. Both bracing for impact at the supernova that seared itself into their souls. Then came a flash.

A real camera flash that had come from the sliding door.

Both of them pull apart, wrenching free to look into the mischievous stars twinkling in the eyes of their friends, not realizing that they had an audience.

"I knew you liked her!" Ruby cheered, barely hiding her raucous laughter.

"Ha, women." Nora giggled as she pulled Ren back into the apartment, heading towards the kitchen.

"I told you they liked each other." Velvet fiddled with her camera, not looking at the surprised look on her girlfriend's face.

And, of course, there was Amber Fall, standing three feet away from them, arms folded over her chest and a smug smile on her face. Blake heard the alarm bells going off in her head, panicking that she had been watching them for a while now. This didn't look well at all but she was not going to let her take Yang away, not this time. She had been waiting and tearing herself apart over the blonde and now, nothing was going to make her give Yang up.

Yang watched as Velvet playfully pinched Coco's cheek before she pulled their host back into the apartment, leaving her alone with Blake, Amber, Ruby and Sun Wukong. She squared her jaw and clenched her fists. She wanted to punch that amused expression on his face. She was not going to let him charm his way back into Blake's mind, not after she had seen the cat Faunus smile.

"So," Ruby said aloud, easing the tension that electrified the air around them.

"I believe I did!" Sun pressed his thumb against his chest and turned to Amber who had only rolled her brown eyes at him. "That means you owe me ten lien. I told you they'd kiss sooner."

Yang and Blake couldn't believe their ears. Amber and Sun had made a bet of when they would kiss? Wasn't Yang going out with Amber? Why would Sun bet that they would kiss? Didn't Amber tell Blake to stay away from Yang? Wasn't Blake straight?

Amber looked at them and grinned at Yang, but when she turned to Blake, her small smile was apologetic, "I'm sorry about what I said at the café."

Blake stared at her, her jaw dropping. Amber was not angry that she was kissing her girlfriend, the girlfriend that she had told her to stay away from, the girlfriend Blake was kind of taking away from her.

"Sweetie," Amber addressed Blake, "there is nothing going on between me and Yang. I'm straight."

" **But** ," Sun laughed and looked at Yang, "Blake isn't straight. We're just friends."

Ruby, Amber and Sun laughed together, looking at the matching bemused expressions and blushes on Yang and Blake's faces. Yang quickly turned to Blake, hoping to find confirmation that what Sun had just said was in fact the truth. Blake did the same, wondering if Amber wasn't lying, that this wasn't a terrible prank on her.

This had all been gigantic misunderstanding and Blake couldn't help but laugh along with the other players of their romantic comedy. Seconds later, Yang had joined them. There wasn't anything else that they could do.

"You should really talk to each other." Ruby wiped a tear from her silver eyes as she retreated back into the warmth of Coco's apartment.

Sun and Amber followed the younger girl back inside after they had flashed one final smile at Yang and Blake, happy that this entire mess had been cleared up and talking about the ten lien that Amber lost.

Finally, they were alone once more, but not entirely free from an audience. Yang saw Pyrrha and Scarlet cheering for them and Velvet showing them all the picture that she had taken of the two girls.

Blake watched her the entire time, no longer trying to hold back the smile that easily appeared whenever Yang was near. Without a word, she wrapped her arms over Yang's shoulders and kissed her rosy cheek.

Yang snaked her arms around Blake's waist and pressed her lips against the other girl's forehead as if it were the most natural thing to do, "You thought Amber and I were dating?"

" **You** thought Sun and I were dating." Blake tried to hide under the curtain of Yang's golden hair, smelling the apples that will forever remind her of Yang.

They both laughed again, laughed at how foolish they had both been, how they had been keeping themselves from each other for weeks now, laughed that they were both too in love with each other to notice that they were both in love with each other.

After a few more minutes of nervous giggling and soft kisses, Yang led Blake back inside, their fingers intertwining, both ready for the onslaught of teasing and cheering.

Everything was going to be different from now on, but somehow, it felt the same. They talked, they joked and teased. Wonder Sheep. Wagon Girl. Yang's hands were still warm and Blake's voice was still soft like silk. But this time, there was more. The sunrise and the sun, warm hands over cold shoulders and there were conversations— oh there were conversations.

"I didn't think you liked me that way." Yang admitted, cheeks stained red and aching from the smile that refused to leave, "You said you weren't comfortable with this."

"I never said that." Blake blushed, ears flattening against her skull, "I just wasn't so sure when you asked."

Yang smiled and felt that she looked like an idiot, but to Blake, it was one of the most beautiful things she had ever seen, "You're not at all freaked out by all this?"

"No."

"Do your parents know?" Yang drawled. Blake had been confused about this so it must mean that her parents wouldn't know. She was scared that she would have to see Blake's father threaten her again.

"Yes. They're demanding dinner if you..." Blake stuttered, her hand shot up to cover the blush on her cheeks "Too soon? I don't want to make you feel weird."

"Kind of." Yang giggled.

"Sorry."

"No, no. It's a good weird. " Yang reached for Blake's hand and the cat Faunus felt her face begin to ache once more, "I mean, they're okay with this? With you and me?"

"They thought we were you and me weeks ago." Blake chuckled.

"You talk about me with your parents?" Yang raised an eyebrow at her.

"Not really. Just once." Blake quickly changed the direction of the conversation, not wanting to let Yang know that her father had suggested she steal Yang from Amber, "Does your dad know about me?"

"I'm not supposed to be seeing someone." Yang said then added when she saw the disappointment on Blake's face, "It'll be fine. I'm not saying we can't see each other. It's not as if I don't know you... very..."

Yang had been derailed by the feather-light impact of thin lips and she held on for dear life, one hand over Blake's shoulder and the other one buried in her long black hair, an inch below the cat ears. Still not sure of the boundaries or if Blake would even let her touch her ears, unaware that Blake definitely would.

They broke the kiss once more to stare into each other's' eyes, foreheads pressed against each other. Blake cupped Yang's jaw, running her thumb below the lips that she constantly wanted to kiss and Yang traced circles where Blake's jaw and human ear met.

"Yang?" Blake whispered.

"Blake." Yang answered.

Blake held her breath. She wasn't scared at all nor was she nervous. She knew that this was going to be the first time that she would say it out loud, the first time that Yang would hear it. She wanted to remember this moment as it is.

"I love you." The words had tumbled out of her lips and Yang breathed in every syllable.

"I love you too." Yang smiled and kissed Blake again and again and again.

And that was how it would be for years to come. The two of them would look back on the crazy semester that they had met each other, laughed at the things that once kept them awake at night, wished that they had told each other how they felt sooner.

But time was a fickle thing that moved forward. Blake and Yang couldn't change the past, but they made sure that their future was going to make up for those four months that they had denied themselves the happiness that they found in each other's' embrace, the sunrise in Yang's eyes and the sunshine in Blake's.

Years later, Yang had surprised Blake with an addition to her meager collection of keys. It was one simple key that opened the door to the apartment that they would live in. Yang kept reassuring her that she was going to love it despite not having seen it before. The blonde never really thought about interior design, but had demanded that she wanted a big kitchen.

The first time that they had arrived in front of the apartment, Yang held her hands over Blake's eyes, guided by the honey in the blonde's voice to a space that Yang said was the living room. She kissed one of Blake's feline ears before she removed her hands.

Blake opened her eyes and was greeted by the sight of a simple, but tasteful living room with a beige couch, orange throw pillows and a dark wood coffee table in the middle. On the opposite side of the couch was a big flat screen TV in between two tall bookcases that she would want to fill up with her growing book collection.

As expected, the kitchen was as big as Yang had said she wanted it to be with white marble countertops and dark wood cupboards much like the table in the living room. There was even a big window on one side that showed the busy street down below.

"Do you like it?" Yang held both of her hands in hers.

Did she like it? She loved it. This was going to be their apartment, a place that they could call their home, the place that they were going to spend the rest of their lives with. But there was something so familiar about this place. It was as if she had seen all of this before.

"I love it." She kissed the goofy grin on Yang's face, her hands buried in her long blonde hair.

That was the morning routine of Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long, arms around each other and lips locked in an embrace of their own. Blake would wake up earlier than Yang, knowing that the blonde would rather start her day with a cup of coffee while she made breakfast for the two of them.

Some mornings, the two of them would sleep half an hour longer. Some mornings, they would argue about the simplest of things and would spend the rest of the afternoon apologizing and making It up to each other. Yes, that was usually how their mornings went.

Usually.

Except for one particular morning that started the same way as the rest, but when Blake was leaning against the kitchen island, waiting for Yang's morning coffee to finish brewing, waiting for the blonde to roll out of bed and kiss her, Blake studied the living room.

Beige couch, orange throw pillows, dark wood coffee table, Yang's keys were on the table right next to the remote control.

She had seen this all before. All for the price of ten lien when she was still sixteen years old.

"Good morning, Blake!" a soft voice called from behind, the words laced with tenderness and love. Blake smiled as she turned to behold the beautiful woman moving closer, her hair a glorious mess of blonde hair against her olive skin. Her pink lips looked soft as she smiled wider. Her short yellow tank top hung over her broad muscled shoulders, accentuating her long neck and the top of her sizeable breasts. Here abs were quite the sight to see underneath her top and her black shorts hugged her hips like a second layer of skin.

"Good morning, Yang." This was probably the thousandth time that she had seen Yang this way, but it always felt like the first time.

Yang gently placed her hands just above the Faunus' elbows and planted a quick kiss on Blake's lips. Blake grabbed Yang by the waist and pulled her closer, keeping Yang from pulling away a little too soon.

"Why are you up so early?" Yang groaned after she had pulled her lips free, resting her chin over Blake's shoulder, "It's Sunday. Come back to bed."

Blake giggled, running both her hands over Yang's back, "I know you need coffee in the morning."

Yang lifted her head and pressed her temple against Blake's forehead, half of the sunrise staring into the sun in Blake's golden eyes, "No. I need Blake cuddles more."

Yang buried her face into Blake's shoulder again, her arms tight around the cat Faunus' neck and she huffed another suggestion that Blake should forget about the coffee and return to the bedroom with her.

"Five more minutes." Blake kissed Yang's jaw.

She didn't say anything in response, Yang simply hummed and squeezed Blake's shoulders as she tried to press herself a little bit closer.

Blake couldn't help but wonder if this was the moment that Madame Leona had shown her all those years ago or maybe she had seen a lifetime's worth of warm embraces and forehead kisses compressed into a single five-minute vision worth ten lien.

"Wanna know something weird?" She whispered against Yang's temple.

"Yes." Yang said with a nod, her head still pressed against Blake's shoulder.

Blake carefully pushed Yang off of her, to look into her eyes as she finally revealed the one thing that had pushed Blake into meeting her, into speaking to her, "When Sun and I were sixteen, we both went to this fortune-teller."

Yang hummed, sleepy eyes briefly closing before they fluttered open.

"We each paid ten lien and the fortune-teller showed us a vision of the person that we were going to spend the rest of our lives with."

Yang's expression was blank, eyelids still heavy, but the smile on her face was an indication that she had listened to Blake's story.

"And you saw me?" Yang teased, stealing a kiss from Blake's lips.

"No," Blake said dryly, forcing her face to adopt the neutral expression that she had mastered. It worked because Yang's jaw dropped and her lilac eyes were wide enough for Blake to know that the blonde was wide awake. "I saw Professor Port."

Yang snorted. Blake should have died by asphyxiation every time this woman took her breath away, but those pair of deep lilac eyes seemed to keep breathing life into her.

It was Blake's turn to steal back the kiss that Yang snatched from her lips, "Of course, I saw you. I guess I've loved you since then."

"I love you too." Yang offered her lips and Blake gladly offered her own as well.

"I wonder if this would be how it turned out if I hadn't been there." Blake mused, tucking a stray tuft of blonde hair behind Yang's ear, "I don't know if I would talk to you if I hadn't seen it. I mean, I only acted on it because I kind of believed what I saw, that I you and I would be together and have mornings like this."

"It doesn't matter." Yang's voice was soft, "We're here now. Besides, given how I met you, I'm pretty sure I would have found a way to make you love me."

Blake smiled when Yang pressed her lips on her forehead again, holding her breath as she felt Yang's warm hands slip away from her, but this time, she wasn't scared. Yang would always be there for her.


	16. Epilogue

**A/N: Big thank you to** **xXIyra16Xx for helping me navigate through FF. *cries. so. much. tears** *

 _Clack. Clack. Clack._

Her heels echoed with every step that she took in the empty halls of her home, rushing to the anteroom where her guest was waiting for her.

She had been waiting for her arrival for almost half a year now, having heard of her from a friend of a friend who had said that she had the answers to the questions one would even be too afraid to ask aloud.

But she wasn't afraid. No, not her.

What she was, at the moment, was peeved and growing impatient.

She stared at the seven-foot gilded door in front of her, her hand shaking as she touched the cold crystal of the doorknob. She pulled her hand back and thought for a moment.

Did she really need to do this?

Money was not an issue. The woman could name any price and she wouldn't bat an eye. The problem was if she really was going to provide an answer, not raise another problem. She did not need to have anymore problems.

She pinched the bridge of her nose, ran a hand through her off-center ponytail and straightened her skirt. Despite her guest being sought after, she was not entirely welcome in this estate, but even so, she could not afford to look anything less than immaculate.

With enough courage, she turned the doorknob and pushed the heavy door open, heels tapping into the marble of the floor.

Her guest was already waiting for her, seated on the table, a round object in one hand and a pipe in the other.

She studied the woman in front of her. Her guest had brown eyes that darted left to right, the same shade as her wild hair, a shabby purple shawl over her plain black dress that had collected dust and mud around her feet. She was nervously smoking her pipe, her other hand rubbing over the round object, covered by a maroon cloth that appeared to be embroidered with golden fruits. At first glance, there was nothing wrong with her, but when her guest had opened her mouth, she had seen what set them apart.

Fangs.

"You're not easy to find." she said, seating herself on the chair in front of her guest.

"I know I'm not welcome here." her guest spat, baring her _fangs_ as if they would terrify her. A single word from her and she could have this woman carted off to prison.

"I invited you here, so don't think that you're not."

"Alright."

"I want my fortune told." she tried to keep her voice even. It wouldn't do well to show emotion. Not in front of this _creature._

"Madame Leona has already seen it, child."

"And?"

"I can see you like the fairer things in life." the Faunus smiled, exposing more of her sharp teeth.

"Everyone knows that." she waved her hands around, directing the Faunus' brown eyes to inspect this small anteroom alone. They had a bigger one that was reserved for far more important visitors. This visitor wasn't even registered. This Madame Leona had been smuggled into the mansion without the knowledge of anybody else but herself and her butler.

"I apologize, but I refuse to tell you your fortune."

She clenched her hands into fists again, ground her teeth until she could feel her jaw ache, "You can't refuse. I'll pay you any amount that you want."

"Hmmm..." the Faunus pressed her pipe against her lip, the tip of her fang insulting her, "Two thousand lien. I'm saving for my retirement. So, no less."

Honestly, if this Faunus would even say that she was going to charge her twenty-thousand lien, she was going to give it to her. It would be best to get this over with as soon as possible and have Klein sneak her back out of the mansion before her father and brother returned.

She pulled a checkbook and a pen from the pocket of her sleeves, signed the damned thing and handed her the piece of paper.

She saw the horror in the Faunus' eyes, reluctant to accept the check, to give her the answers that she desperately wanted to know. But it's not every day that a traveling fortune-teller would be paid two thousand lien for a single reading.

"You're not going to like this."

"Try me." she challenged.

The Faunus flipped the cloth over and revealed a crystal ball that she placed in the middle of the table in between them, "Then let us begin, my lady."

"Please," she scoffed, "Call me Weiss."


End file.
